full 





Class 



It - 



© *9 

- 



DOBELL COLLECTION 



JiSEJTTED. For Private Circulation. (See p. 174.) 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY: 



IS IT OF MAN OR OF GOB ? 



BY THE AUTHOll OF 



THE DESTINY OF THE HUMAN EACE.' 



" It is one of the appointed conditions of the labour of man, that in proportion 
to the time between the seed-sowing and the harvest is the fulness of the fruit ; 
and that generally, therefore, the farther off we place our aim, and the less we 
desire to be ourselves the witnesses of what we have laboured for, the more wide 
and rich will be the measure of our success." — Rvslin. 



LONDON 

IN, a 

rf STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 



SIMPKIN, MAKSHALL, AND CO., 



PKICE ONE SHILLING. 



{From " Evangelical Christendom") 
"Both these books ('The Righteousness of God' and 'Organized Chris- 
tianity ') are by the author of ' The Destiny of the Human Race,' and, 
like all that proceeds from his pen, are characterized by a quiet originality 
which startles us, a sober earnestness -which commands respect, and a spi- 
rituality of tone which makes us feel that we have to do with a good man." 

(From the "Nonconformist" March 21, 1866.) 
A NEW INTERPRETATION OF SOLOMON'S SONG* 

"It not unfrequently happens that a very small work, by a very able 
writer, claims at our hands more prominent and extended notice than books 
more pretentious and voluminous. TVe have not for some time felt such a 
demand to be more resistlessly made than by a new interpretation of the 
' Song of Songs,' extending to no more than some fifty pages. 

" The anonymous author is already known by the remarkable work on 
' The Destiny of the Human Race,' which we and others, dissenting from its 
conclusions, received with the respect duo to the carefully matured product 
of independent and thorough investigation, conducted with the utmost can- 
dour and profound reverence for the Scriptures. 

" The present attempt to discover the veiled meaning of the Song which 
learning and piety have so variously interpreted, was in the first instance 
printed for private circulation, but is now published at a very small cost, 
though in beautiful form ; and as a biblical study, having the truest origi- 
nality and suggestiveness, challenges the opinion of cultivated and pious 
readers of the Old Testament. It is our own belief that, whatever may be 
the judgment of divines as to the legitimacy of the interpretation, the little 
book will be precious to those who make acquaintance with it, as one of the 
few that are ever welcome in retired hours, and as preparations for the 
thoughtful exercises of devotion." 

* "The Song of Songs: an Allegory, and its Interpretation." By the 
Author of " The Destiny of the Human Race." London : S. W. Partridge, 
Paternoster Row. Price Eighteenpence. 

TRACTS FOR THOUGHTFUL CHRISTIANS. 

No. 2, price Threepence, entitled, 

HADES; OR, THE INVISIBLE WORLD, 

"Will appear on the 2nd July. 
No. 1, "ON HUMAN IGNORANCE OF DIVINE THINGS," is still 

on Sale. 



London ; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., Stationers' Hall Court, E.C. 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



IS IT OF MAN OR OF GOD 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 



THE DESTINY OE THE HUMAN EACE.' 



"It is one of the appointed conditions of the labour of man, that in proportion 
to the time between the seed-sowing and the harvest is the fulness of the fruit ; 
and that generally, therefore, the farther off we place our aim, and the less we 
desire to be ourselves the witnesses of what we have laboured for, the more wide 
and rich will be the measure of our success." — Buskin. 



LONDON: 

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., 

STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 



205449 
'13 



1p 



TO THE BEADEK. 



Fellow- Christian, — Will you permit me to say, by way 
of Preface, that if this little book of mine is to answer any 
good end, it must be read in a spirit befitting the import- 
ance of the subjects on which it treats, viz., with serious- 
ness, with candour, with Scriptural research, and with 
prayer. That it may be so read, let me, as a preliminary, 
commend to your serious consideration the following brief 
passages from Thomas a Kempis' Be Imitationc Clvristi : — 

* Be not influenced by the authority of the writer, his 
reputation for small or great skill in writing, but let the 
love of the pure truth lead thee to read. 

" Inquire not who speaks, but attend to what is spoken ; 
for men pass away, but the truth of the Lord endureth for 
ever, and God speaks to us in divers ways without respect 
of person. 

" Great wisdom is not to be hasty in action, and not to 
stand too obstinately by our own opinions. 



IV PREFACE. 

" The judgments of God are different from the judgments 
of men ; what pleases men is often displeasing to Him. 

"We generally judge of a matter according as it is 
pleasing or displeasing to us. For we readily lose our true 
judgment because of our own private likings, and are easily 
disturbed by the rebellion of our own private opinions. 

" It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, and 
to be misunderstood, even when we do, and intend to do, 
well. Such opposition will often promote humility, and 
keep us from vain glory," 

Blackheath, May 1, 1866. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

I. The Peimitive and Apostolic Chuech .... 1 

II. The Post-Apostolic and Medieval Chuech . 15 

III. The Koman Catholic Chuech ....... 24 

IV. The Chueches of the Refoemation 29 

V. Eemonstbance and Reply 49 

VI. The Bible and the Ministey 58 

VII. The Peeachbb of the Gospel 76 

VIII. The Ministey of the Chuech 92 

IX. Peactical Consideeations 115 

X. Intellectual Enlaegement 133 

XI. Moeal Development 152 

XII. Conclusion 176 



OEGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE PRIMITIVE AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

M. Guizot, in his able lectures on the " History of Civi- 
lization in Europe/' remarks : "In the very earliest 
period, the Christian society presents itself as a simple 
association of a common creed and common sentiments ; 
the first Christians united to enjoy together the same 
emotions and the same religious convictions. We find 
among them no system of determinate doctrines, no 
rules, no discipline, no * body of magistrates." 

This statement, although essentially true, probably needs 
a little modification. M. Guizot indeed supplies it, when 
he observes, a little further on, that " no society, however 
newly born, however weakly constituted it may be, exists 
without a moral power which animates and directs it. In 
the various Christian congregations there were men who 
preached, taught, and morally governed the congregation; 
but there was no formal magistrate, no recognized disci- 
pline: a simple association, caused by a community of 
creeds and sentiments, was the primitive condition of the 
Christian society." 

We shall probably come as near to the exact truth as we 
can if we say that these early communities were organized 
and governed just to the extent that was absolutely essen- 
tial to their existence as societies, hut no further. 

B 



2 ORGANIZED CERISTIANITT. 

The great peculiarity of the Primitive Church, and 
that which, more than anything else distinguished it from 
^he Church of later times, was the entire absence of any 
organization for aggressive purposes. No provision what- 
ever seems to have been made by the apostles for the sys- 
tematic diffusion over the earth of the truths they had 
taught. No indication is to be found in the sacred record 
that it ever would be the obligation of the Church at large 
to subdue the world to Christ. 

A command had indeed been issued to the apostles, to 
" go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature " (Mark xvi. 15 — 20), or, as given by St. Matthew — 
for this passage in Mark is omitted in many MSS., — " Go 
ye therefore, and teach (disciple) all nations, baptizing 
them in (into) the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world (age) - 
(Matt, xxviii. 19, 20). 

The promise, " I am with you," is evidently to be taken 
in connection with the declaration in the 18th verse, and 
may be understood thus : " All power is given unto Me in 
heaven and earth," therefore go forth, for I am with you." 
And if we ask in what sense the Lord would be with them, 
the answer is plain — to furnish them with everything 
that might be requisite for the accomplishment of their 
task. 

If the latter portion of the 16th chapter of Mark 
(ver. 9 — 20) is to be accepted, — and there can be no doubt, 
whatever may be said regarding the want of evidence to 
prove it a genuine work of the evangelist, that it is an 
authentic fragment placed as a completion of the Gospel 
in very early times (see Alford), — the presence promised finds 



THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 3 

its interpretation in the words, " These signs shall follow 
them that believe ; In my name shall they cast out devils ; 
they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up 
serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not 
hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall 
recover " (Mark xvi. 17, 18). 

Whether this explanation be the right one or not, 
nothing can be more certain than that, as a fact, vjhen 
they did go forth to preach, the Lord everywhere worked 
with them, and " confirmed the word with signs follow- 
ing." In this special sense, Christ, having received all 
power, was assuredly with the first preachers of the 
Gospel, "even unto the end of the age." 

This remarkable blending of message and miracle takes 
place from the very first. The Lord himself invariably 
accompanied His teaching by an abundance of superhuman 
acts, offered, among other purposes, as evidence of His 
authority. When He sent forth the seventy to preach, 
saying, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand," He bade them 
" heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast 
out devils " (Matt. x. 8) ; while, as if to impress them still 
more with the Divine character of their work, they were 
told to provide nothing for their journey, neither gold, nor 
silver, nor brass; not even a scrip or change of clothing 
(ver. 9, 10). 

The twelve, but a little time before, had received from 
their Master " power against unclean spirits, to cast them 
out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of 
disease" (ver. 1, 2). 

After the resurrection, all the disciples were bidden " to 
wait for the promise " before they went forth as witnesses ; 
to wait until they received "the power of the Holy 
Ghost coming upon them" (niarg.), or as A.Y., "power, 



4 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

after that the Holy Ghost had come upon them" 
(Acts i. 8). 

They obey, and " when the day of Pentecost was fully 
come, they were all with one accord in one place. And 
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were 
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, 
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they 
were all filled with the Holy G-host, and began to speak 
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance " 
(Acts ii. 2 — 4). The gift of the Holy Ghost would seem 
to have morally and intellectually qualified them for their 
task by filling them, in a supernatural manner, with light 
and love. The gift of tongues, which accompanied the 
blessing, enabled them to communicate to others the 
glad tidings which had been so wonderfully imparted to 
themselves. No room is left for doubt either as to the 
character or object of this latter donation, since we are 
told that its immediate effect was that strangers from all 
parts of the world now heard the word of truth ; every 
man in his own tongue hearing them speak "in his own 
language" (ver. 5, 6). 

Nor was this special power for evangelizing confined to 
those who received it direct from the Lord. The apostles 
were endowed with ability to communicate it. For when 
Peter and John go down to Samaria, they do what Philip 
could not do, — they confer the Holy Ghost on his converts, 
so that these too work miracles. This is evident from the 
desire of Simon to obtain the gift for money (Acts viii. 
5—24). 

On the Gentiles also, to the astonishment of Peter, the 
same gifts descend. "They of the circumcision which 
believed were astonished," for " they heard them (the Gen- 



THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 5 

tile converts) speak with tongues, and magnify God " (Acts 
x. 46). Peter himself states soon afterwards to the other 
apostles, that " the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us 
at the beginning" (Acts xi. 15). 

At a later period this power descends on Paul in such 
abundance that " from his body were brought unto the 
sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed 
from them, and the evil spirits went out of them" 
(Acts xix. 12). 

The disciples of Apollos receive from Paul a like blessing ; 
for after he * had laid his hands upon them," they too 
" spake with tongues and prophesied." 

The believers "which were scattered abroad upon the 
persecution that arose about Stephen," and who are said to 
have -gone " as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, 
preaching the Word," were in all probability similarly 
qualified; for it is by no means likely that in this — or, 
indeed, in any respect — the converts in Jerusalem would 
be behind the Gentiles. 

Such was the energy of healing in Peter, that on one 
occasion it is said, " They brought forth the sick into the 
streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least 
the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of 
them : . . . and they were healed every one " (Acts v. 
15, 16). 

What precise charism Timothy had is not stated ; but as 
he is distinctly told to " stir up the gift of God " which 
was in him "by the putting on" of St. Paul's "hands," 
there can be no doubt that he, too, was specially endowed. 
There is not, in short, so far as appears from the evangelic 
history, a single instance of any person being commissioned 
to " preach the Gospel," in the sense of evangelizing, with- 
out his having received from God some special gift or 



6 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY 

power for the accomplishment of the work. The com- 
mand and the promise appear invariably to go together. 
The work is never entrusted to any man without his 
being gifted with special power to fulfil it. 

Are we, then, to conclude that the particular commission 
now under notice, " Preach the Gospel to every creature," 
was given exclusively to the apostles, and to those who 
should receive from them, or immediately from the Holy 
Spirit, gifts of tongues or of healing, — miraculous powers, 
the exercise of which unquestionably arrested attention, 
and enabled the preacher to communicate intelligibly and 
with authority, in any language, the good news he had to 
impart ? 

/ think we must. For whatever obligation may rest upon 
any of us — minister or layman — to spread the glad tidings 
of redemption, — and I should be the last to deny such an 
obligation, — it seems clear enough that this particular com- 
mand, as given by our Lord, cannot be separated from the 
promise by which it was accompanied. It seems as plain 
as anything can be, that these first preachers had, all of 
them, a special gift of language, which enabled them to 
communicate with men of other tongues ; a wondrous power 
to heal, which at once commanded attention, and furnished 
adequate evidence of the speaker's right to be heard ; and 
an ability to express, in a simple manner and with a loving 
heart, the truth as it is in Jesus. In this sense Christ was 
with these men, in a special and peculiar manner, to the 
end of that age — and no longer. 

Before that time, if St. Paul is to be credited, the work 
was done, — that is to say, the seed of Divine truth, which, 
until the coming of Christ, had been deposited exclusively 
in Judea, was sown in all the world. 

But the end of the dispensation was then very near. 



THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 7 

The apostle's words to the Colossians, written probably 
only about five years before the destruction of Jerusalem, 
are, in this relation, singular and striking. Speaking of 
the hope which was laid up for them in heaven, he says, 
" Which is come unto you, as it is in all the ivorld." And 
again, " Be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel 
which ye have heard, and which was preached to every 
creature which is under heaven" (Col. i. 6, 23). By 
u ivas preached " he means, not merely is being preached, but 
has been actually, as an accomplished fact, preached. (So 
Dr. Brown and Dr. Faussett.) 

What we have to notice, then, is, that here the work of 
evangelization, as commanded to he undertaken, is spoken of 
as done. And not here only. St. Paul repeats the state- 
ment in the Epistle to the Bomans, when, speaking of the 
impossibility of men believing in one of whom they have 
not heard, he adds, " But I say, Have they not heard ? 
Yes, verily, their sound (that of the preachers of the 
Gospel) went into all the earth, and their words unto the 
ends of the world" (Bom. x. 18). 

St. John, writing his epistles probably very near the 
close of the century, does not give a single hint as to the 
duty of completing the testimony, but tells the Churches 
" it is the last time," or, literally, the last hour, — the evi- 
dence of which is the manifestation of " many antichrists " 
(1 John ii. 18). The whole world, he says, "lieth in 
wickedness," notwithstanding the preaching in all lands. 
What, then, is to be done ? How is it to be subdued to the 
Bedeemer? His answer is a striking one. "This is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. The 
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doetli 
the will of God abideth for ever." 

The work had been accomplished by the precise means 



8 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

originally provided, — a gift of tongues and miracles of 
healing ; but without organization ; by the few, and not by 
any united effort ; by disinterested labourers, acting for the 
most part on their own individual responsibility, and un- 
assisted. 

It is, indeed, not a little remarkable that while contribu- 
tions are frequently asked by the Apostle Paul for " poor 
saints," and while the right of some, under given conditions, 
to live by the Gospel, to receive carnal things in exchange 
for spiritual things, is, as a principle, implied and sustained, 
nowhere have we the slightest hint of any such claim 
having ever been made with reference to the general diffu- 
sion of the truth among the nations. From the Thessa- 
lonians, it is said, " sounded out " the word of the Lord, 
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place 
their "faith to God was spread abroad;" but the context 
explains in what way this was done. " Ye were ensamples 
to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia " (1 Thess. i. 
7, 8). And again, "We ourselves glory in you in the 
Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your per- 
secutions and tribulations that ye endure " (2 Thess. i. 4). 

The evangelization of the world, as accomplished in 
apostolic times, was evidently, from first to last, an indi- 
vidual work, a miraculous work, a witnessing work. 

Further, nothing can be plainer than that the words of 
the Lord were understood by the apostles to mean, not 
that the Gospel must be preached to every child of Adam 
— an absolute impossibility under the circumstances, a 
thing which never has been, nor ever can be done, under 
the present dispensation, — but that the glad tidings should 
be declared in every nation " for a witness " (Matt. xxiv. 
14), the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile being 
now broken down, and all the world made one in Christ. 



THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 9 

But if this be the fact, it necessarily follows that the sal- 
vation of all men cannot be dependent upon their hearing 
of Christ, and believing upon Him in this life ; for, as 
the apostle says, " How can they hear without a preacher 1 " 

Nor is there — and this should be carefully noted — a 
single indication — even a hint — that would lead us to 
suppose that either the apostles or the first Christians 
thought that the salvation of the world depended, in any 
degree, on their fidelity, effort, or prayers. Hence it is that, 
in the apostolic age, no trace is to be found of that exagge- 
rated idea of Christian responsibility which always induces 
what may properly be called the persecuting spirit. The 
words of the Lord to the two apostles, " Ye know not what 
spirit ye are of" (Luke ix. 55), and the rebuke to Peter, 
" Put up thy sword," were then fresh in their minds. It 
was left for theologians, both Catholic and Protestant, in 
later days to discover that the massacre of the Canaanites 
and Elijah's slaughter of the priests of Baal justified the 
atrocities of persecutors. The first Christians had not, 
indeed, the power to persecute, but neither had they the 
will. The doctrine of Divine sovereignty — then never 
separated from the Divine love — was firmly believed, — so 
firmly, that painful anxiety or acute distress relative to the 
future lot of unconverted friends or relatives was, so far as 
we can judge from what is written, absolutely unknown. 

Paul's anxiety is exclusively manifested either for the 
Jews, as the chosen of God, who were casting away their 
birthright, or for those who had been converted under his 
teaching, that they might be built up and perfected. For 
the first he could wish himself " accursed," notwithstanding 
his belief in their ultimate salvation (Eom. ix. 1 — 5; xi. 26); 
for the last he undergoes, as it were, the pains of a second 
"travail" (Gal. iv. 19). He has no such anxiety about the 



10 OMGANIZEL CHRISTIANITY. 

Gentile world, although he is their chief apostle. It is 
for " weak " brethren, not for the world at large, that he is 
" made all things to all men " (1 Cor. ix. 22). The world 
was probably as great a mystery to him as it is to us ; but 
it was not a painful mystery ; he only saw in it the hidden 
riches of the glory of God (Col. i. 27). Nay, strange as it 
may seem, he never appears to suppose for a, moment that 
either he or his brethren were, in any sense whatever, called 
of God to be instrumentally the saviours of the world, by con- 
verting it to Christ. On the contrary, he always speaks 
of himself as sent only in witness, to take a people out of a 
world which was itself very soon to pass away. 

Further, he evidently thinks it more than possible that 
he may live to see what most men regard as the end of the 
world ; for he writes, " This we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the 
coming of the Lord shall not prevent (go before) them which 
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then 
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together 
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and 
so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one 
another with these words" (1 Thess. iv. 15 — 18). 

True it is, that even in this very epistle he tells the 
Thessalonians that "the times and the seasons" are un- 
known ; that " the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in 
the night," — suddenly and unexpectedly; and in a second 
letter he specially warns them not to be soon " shaken in 
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by 
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" 
(1 Thess. v. 1, 2; 2 Ep. ii. 2); but he does not alter his 
teaching, or withdraw anything he has said, or bid them 



TEE PRIMITIVE CEURCE. \\ 

look for comfort to anything else but the coming of the 
Lord. To the troubled he still says, "Best with us/' — 
repose on the same blessed hope that we do : " When the 
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty 
angels," the wicked "shall be punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified 
in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe " 
(2 Thess. i. 7—10.) 

So closes the apostolic age. Explain it as we may, it is 
unquestionable that the first Christians lived and died fully 
expecting that the Lord would return immediately and take 
unto Himself the kingdom. One scarcely sees indeed how 
they could have believed anything else. Had not all the 
prophets spoken of the triumph of Christ as if it were 
to take place immediately after His humiliation ? as if these 
two thoughts, " a man of sorrows," and " Emmanuel, God 
with us," — thoughts which it must have been impossible 
for them to combine or harmonize, would nevertheless be 
one ? as if the Crucifixion and the Coronation of Messiah 
were, so to speak, to touch each other? 

Again, had not John heard the Lord say to Peter regard- 
ing himself, " If I will that he tarry till I come what is 
that to thee?" And did not this at least imply that 
the coming referred to might possibly take place during 
his lifetime? Did not his greatly prolonged days seem 
to encourage such an expectation ? Further, had not Paul 
and Peter, and all the apostles, with one consent presented 
this " coming " as the great motive to watchfulness and to 
holiness? So far then from our finding cause to marvel at 
the prevalence of a belief in the immediate return of the 
Lord, the wonder would have been had any other hope 
been prominent in their minds. 



12 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

How shall we explain this state of things ? Were the 
first Christians deluded by apostolic men, who were them- 
selves, in this matter, deluded of God ? Impossible ! Should 
then the fact that such an error was admitted shake 
our confidence in the infallibility of inspiration? Certainly 
not. But it may teach us an important lesson, viz., that 
inspiration, like everything else that God gives to man, is 
probationary, — that it is to us what we are to it; that if we 
approach it in a one-sided spirit, — if we fail to view it as a 
whole, on all sides and in all its parts, — if we prefer one por- 
tion to another, or neglect and pass over what may not be 
quite clear to us, or what we may find difficult to harmonize 
with other and more direct utterances, we shall be misled. 

Now this seems to have been the error both of the 
apostles and their converts in this matter, regarding which 
no direct revelation had been given. The voice of prophecy 
— always the last to be listened to, even by the Church — had 
spoken of delay; and difficult as it might be for them 
to combine what must sometimes have appeared conflicting 
in the Divine testimony, it surely became them both to 
listen and to ponder. 

The parable of the Lord regarding the seed of the Word, 
its rapid and unperceived growth by night and by day, 
bringing forth, like the earth, fruit of itself, and followed in 
the natural order of things by harvest (Mark iv. 26 — 29), 
might, taken alone, be supposed to support the idea that the 
end of all things was at hand; but the fact that it had been 
accompanied by another parable, in which the same truth 
is represented under a different aspect, — one in which the 
smallest of seeds becomes a great tree, shooting out great 
branches, so "that the fowls of the air (birds of prey) lodge 
under the shadow of it, pointed to a different issue 
(ver. 30—32.) 



THE FRIMITIVE CHURCH. 13 

The world in which this seed was scattered had further 
been likened by the same Divine teacher to a field, in 
which, amid the good seed, tares had been sown by an 
enemy, and both were to grow together until the harvest. 
Again, the doctrine of the kingdom had been compared 
to "leaven" (an evil thing — Matt. xvi. 6; Mark viii. 15; 
1 Cor. v. 6 — 8 ; Gal. v. 9), which was to be " hidden until 
the whole was leavened." Again, it had been compared to 
a net, enclosing bad as well as good fish, to be separated the 
one from the other only at the end of the world. All these 
images shadowed forth extension, delay, and corruption. 
These things, however, they do not appear at that time to 
have fully seen. 

But there was much more inspired truth in their posses- 
sion calculated to correct their erroneous anticipations than 
the parables just referred to. After the apostles had 
one by one departed, there remained in their hands a 
series of predictions relating to the future, all dark, all 
speaking of great moral decay, of an apostasy, and of a 
reign of antichrist, — all, therefore, indicating lapse of 
time before the end. Let us simply enumerate them 
in their chronological order as uttered by Paul, by Peter, 
by James, by Jude, and by John: — 

2 Thess. ii. 3, 7 — " That day shall not come, unless there 
come a falling away first ; " " The mystery of iniquity doth 
already work." 

2 Cor. ii. 17 — " For we are not as many (already the evil 
had begun to work), which corrupt the word;" or rather, 
as Archbishop Trench reads it, " make a traffic of the word" 

Acts xx. 29 — " For I know that after my departure shall 
grievous (or rather, lurdensome) wolves enter in among you, 
not sparing the flock." 



14 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

Col. ii. 8 — " Beware lest any man spoil you/' or, as 
it should be, " make hooty of you" " through philosophy " 
(pretended theology). 

Jude 11 — " Woe unto them!" for " they have run greedily 
after the error of Balaam for reward? 

2 Pet. ii. 3 — " Through covetousness shall they with 
feigned words make merchandise of you." 

1 Tim. vi. 5 — " Withdraw thyself " from men of " corrupt 
minds," who suppose that "gain is godliness;" or rather, 
according to Dr. Trench, that " godliness is lucre, — a means 
of getting gain." 

2 Tim. iv. 3 — " For the time will come when they will 
not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts (or, 
fancies) shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching- 
ears," — of course paying for the luxury. 

Eev. xviii. 10 — 13 — "That great city," wdiich "makes 
merchandise of the todies and souls of men." 

Under these shadows the primitive age of the Church 
gradually disappears from view, and a new era begins, the 
era of the mystery of iniquity, — the exceptional and paren- 
thetical period in which we are still living, although 
probably near its close. 



15 



CHAPTER II. 

THE POST-APOSTOLIC AND MEDIEVAL CHURCH. 

"We have now to consider the great change which came 
over the Church, in relation both to its beliefs and methods 
of action, after the death of the last of the apostles. 

I have already said I regard this period as the beginning 
of a new era, — the era of " the mystery of iniquity/' the 
exceptional and parenthetical period in which we are still 
living, although probably near its close. I call this period 
parenthetical, because I consider that while it lasts the 
dispensation of the Spirit, properly so called, is in great 
measure suspended* 

I do not of course mean that during these eighteen cen- 
turies the Spirit of God has withdrawn from the earth, for 
this would be far indeed from the truth. As a reprover, 
convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 
judgment, the Holy Spirit is always amongst us. Neither 

* The entire history of the Church, since the days of the apostles, con- 
firms this view. The errors and superstitions of ancient Christianity ; the 
crimes of ecclesiastics ; the miseries of the Inquisition ; the no less hrutal 
superstitions and cruelties of Puritanism towards persons suspected of 
witchcraft ; the exaltation of satanic power ; the ahsence of all tenderness 
in religion ; ever present terror ; the moral element in Christianity super- 
seded by the dogmatic ; doctrine taking the place of rectitude ; faith deter- 
mined neither by Scripture nor by reason, but by the intellectual influences 
of the time; improvement produced only by advancing rationalism; past 
errors unatoned, and existing falsities still cherished and fought for, — 
all united render it almost a mockery to speak of the last 1,800 years as 
the period of the dispensation of the Spirit. 



16 ORGANIZED CHBISTIANITY. 

do I imagine that the promised " well of water," which was 
to spring up in the heart of the believer " unto everlasting 
life" (John iv. 14), has ever failed; for "the Spirit "~ still 
" beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of 
God" (Bom. viii. 16). 

What I mean to say is, that whatever occasioned the 
first age of the Church to be entitled, in a peculiar sense, 
the age or dispensation of the Spirit, belongs to it no longer 
— has not belonged to it since or soon after the last of the 
apostles died. In the sense involved in the prophecy of 
Joel, — in the sense understood in apostolic days, — whatever 
may be the reason, the Holy Spirit is not now given — 
has not been given for centuries. And yet the promise 
was neither to that generation nor to their children, but to 
as many as the Lord our God should call (Acts ii. 39). 

The individual believer may not be essentially poorer 
now than he was then, but the Church as a whole unques- 
tionably is. We may attempt to conceal the loss we have 
sustained by depreciating supernatural power, by main- 
taining that neither gifts of tongues nor of healing are 
necessary now either as evidences of the truth of Chris- 
tianity or as a Divine witness to the reality of conversion 
(Acts x. 47); we may, as imaginative persons sometimes 
have done, try to persuade ourselves that the weakness 
of our faith alone hinders the reappearance of these ancient 
endowments ; we may, in our self-satisfaction, say that we 
are now above these things; that prophecies have failed, and 
tongues have ceased, because that which is perfect has 
come; but the fact remains untouched, — we have no longer 
the " power " that the first Christians seem so largely to 
have exercised. 

I do not say that there was any connection between 
these supernatural gifts and the expectation of aix equally 



TEE POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 17 

supernatural appearance of the Lord Jesus in the clouds 
of heaven, but it is certain that both passed away about 
the same time, and were succeeded by an almost unbounded 
faith in human instrumentality; by a deep and settled con- 
viction that instead of a personal and immediate " coming " 
of Christ, it was the purpose of God, by the sanctifi- 
cation of human talent, and by the ordinary operations of 
the Spirit, eventually and speedily to subdue the world to 
the Eedeemer. 

Nor were indications wanting that a well-directed effort 
in that direction might be effectual. The old paganism 
was obviously effete, and had become to multitudes nothing 
better than a worn-out superstition. No philosophy of life 
and of man presented itself for acceptance as fitted to take 
the place of that which was ready to die. Now was the 
time and the hour for Christianity to bring forward its 
claim to a hearing. Only let faith be exercised, and the 
Crucified would take possession of a throne which, if not 
yet vacant, was sure to be, before very long. 

But to accomplish such a work, organized power vjos 
essential. So, step by step, it was sought and obtained. 

With this belief in a great mission, came the persuasion 
that there was no salvation for any man out of the Church; 
that eternity and its issues were all suspended on belief or 
unbelief of its teaching; that the word of Christ was pledged 
to effect the subjection of the earth to the saints; that 
consequently the most solemn obligation rested on every 
man who would save souls from hell, to further this work 
by the unsparing dedication of his property, by his un- 
ceasing prayers, and by unremitted personal effort. And 
since so great a conquest could obviously only be accom- 
plished by fierce strife with the existing paganism, by 
unparalleled endurance, by eloquence, by argument, by 

c 



18 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

discipline, and by united action, it was, as I have already 
stated, regarded as absolutely necessary that organization 
should be both prompt and perfect; that power should 
be centralized; that persecution should be dared; and that 
the men who manifested most courage, most self-denial, 
most talent for government, should become, by virtue of 
these qualities, bishops or elders in the Church. If to 
these gifts were added, as was frequently the case, an ascetic 
"piety, and great learning, acquired in the existing schools of 
philosophy, no reasonable doubt, it was thought, could be 
entertained that such a man was specially called of God to 
rule. 

Nor can it be denied that most of these early bishops 
were indeed Christian heroes, rejoicing to die for the 
flocks over which they presided. And if, as a matter of 
inevitable necessity, poiver by this process soon became 
concentrated in few hands ; if the ardent, the courageous, 
and, owing to human infirmity, the ambitious, under these 
circumstances grasped the reins as fast as they were 
dropped by their more indolent or timid brethren ; and if, 
in process of time, they sought to strengthen their position 
by gathering around the office all the influence that learn- 
ing, oratory, and priestly claims could bring to bear on an 
ignorant and superstitious population, the result may excite 
sorrow, but not surprise. 

But leaders alone were not sufficient. With the passing 
away of the expectation of a second advent of Christ, heart- 
felt trust in Him as a Person, and apart from any set of 
doctrines about Him, had largely passed away too. Faith 
had now come to be regarded, not so much as a simple 
belief in the person and passion of the Lord, as the definite 
acceptance of certain truths relating to His incarnation and 
sacrifice. These, however, could only be gathered from 



THE POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 19 

fragmentary records scattered abroad, and which, when 
collected together, were found to consist rather of a body 
of FACTS from which doctrines might be deduced, than 
any systematic summary of things needful to be believed. 
It was necessary, therefore, that truth should be systema- 
tized ; that doctrine should be drawn from doctrine ; that 
a Catechism, a Creed, and a Liturgy should be prepared; 
for without these it seemed impossible to make any impres- 
sion on the careless and superstitious world. So a Theology 
vxis framed. 

And not without a very plausible apology for so doing. 
' How different/ they would say to themselves and to each 
other, ' is the condition of these semi-pagans, by whom we 
are surrounded, to that of the first disciples at Jerusalem ! 
They were instructed ; these are ignorant. TJie one thing 
requisite to make the converts at Pentecost trustful and 
happy Christians, was the purification of their hearts from 
old prejudices, — from Jewish pride and exclusiveness, — 
from carnal notions about their exaltation as a people 
above all other nations. Their intellects were already 
exercised on the Old Testament Scriptures ; they were an 
instructed people, — perhaps, on the whole, better educated 
than any other nation upon earth. A new heart was all 
they needed, and, this vouchsafed, everything was accom- 
plished. They were then prepared to advance in the Divine 
life with very little human help indeed, for they were not 
unaccustomed to any of the means by which that life was 
to be quickened and sustained. 

* Far otherwise is it with these poor heathen ! What 
they need is mental illumination, a moral training, and 
constant guidance. But how simple, how dogmatic, how 
authoritative must be the instruction imparted, if it is to 
be at all adapted to their condition ! Without books, — 



20 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

without the ability to read if they had them, — dependent 
therefore altogether on human teaching, and with intellects 
oftentimes so dull and unimpressible that they can be 
reached only through symbol and picture, what can be so 
suitable to them as agencies of the same character, although 
not precisely of the same form, as those by and through 
which God himself trained Israel, and brought them out of 
Egyptian darkness into the position and privileges of His 
chosen people ? 

' The gift of the Comforter, like the gift of tongues, was, 
to some extent at least, Pentecostal and temporary; the 
gift of the Holy Spirit, as bestowed upon patriarchs and 
prophets, as embodied in the Church, and as manifested in 
the teachings of authorized ministers, is surely the only 
'permanent form in which, from the very necessities of the 
case, it can be communicated to all nations. 

'How absurd, then, to suppose that these wretched 
idolaters can ever be made judges of truth ! At the priest's 
lips they must seek knowledge. How vain to imagine that 
in them the Divine life can ever be sustained apart from 
that great spiritual organization which now occupies the 
place, and has inherited the authority, of the Apostles ! 
Let them "hear the Church;" let them "obey those who 
have the rule " over them ; let them learn that all spiritual 
influence flows from Christ to His Church, and, through 
the teachings of that Church alone, is diffused over the whole 
world.' 

Thus it was that the history of the Church became the 
history, " not of an isolated community, or of isolated indi- 
viduals, but of an organized society," soon to be incorporated 
with the political systems of the world. Thus it was that it 
gradually took the form of a centralized and aggressive "body, 
having for this purpose called into existence a systematic 



THE POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 21 

theology adapted to all classes ; a discipline under which 
individualism was discouraged, and submission enforced ; 
finally a clergy, distinct from the people, with a juris- 
diction of their own, and provided with all the means of 
extending and consolidating conquest. 

It is impossible to contemplate such a state of things, 
involving all that we now know it did, without asking 
whether the course they adopted w^as a right one ? And I 
know* not how we can arrive at a true answer, except by 
observing results; for of all human undertakings it may 
safely be asserted, after full time has been given for the 
development of principles, " By their fruits shall ye faioiu 
them." 

Xow what were the results, what the fruits of the course 
these " Fathers " adopted ? The historian shall portray 
them : — 

As the village, the town, the city, or the province 
became in outward form and profession Christian, " prac- 
tical heathenism retired, to work more silently and imper- 
ceptibly into the Christian system;" Christian morality 
became more and more divorced from Christian faith; 
heresy soon became almost the only crime ; and in the 
desire to make an impression on the general tone and 
character oi society, exaggerations of all kinds sprang into 
existence ; religion became a mere engine of terror ; and 
the moral elevation of each 'individual by truths which, 
rightly imparted, promote energy and self-reliance, — fill a 
man with noble thoughts and masculine virtues, making 
him at once a worshipper of Christ, and a follower of all 
righteousness, — was lost sight of in the eager desire to 
bring all mankind within the pale of the Church, however 
debasing or debilitating the process by wmick it might be 
accomplished 



22 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

Nor should it be forgotten that the persecuting spirit 
displayed by the Christians of the fourth and fifth centu- 
ries was the consequence of theological development. " The 
writer who was destined to consolidate the whole system 
of persecution, to furnish the arguments of all its later 
defenders, and to give to it the sanction of a name that long 
silenced every pleading of mercy, and became the glory 
and the watchword of every persecutor, was unquestionably 
Augustine, on whom more than on any other theologian — 
— more, perhaps, even than on Dominic and Innocent — 
rests the responsibility of this fearful curse. 

" He made it his mission to map out theology with in- 
flexible precision, to develop its principles to their full 
consequences, and to co-ordinate its various parts into one 
authoritative and systematic whole. He was the most 
stanch and enthusiastic defender of all those doctrines 
that grow out of the habits of mind that lead to persecu- 
tion. For a time he shrank from and even condemned it, 
but he soon perceived in it the necessary consequence of 
his principles. He recanted his condemnation; he flung 
his whole genius into the cause ; he recurred to it again 
and again, and he became the framer and the represen- 
tative of the theology of intolerance. It was merciful, he 
contended, to punish heretics even by death, if this could 
save them or others from the eternal suffering that awaited 
the unconverted." 

Yes ! " it is in itself evident, and it is abundantly 
proved by history, that the virulence theologians will dis- 
play towards those who differ from them, will depend chiefly 
on the degree in which the dogmatic side of their system is 
developed. In the first century there was, properly speak- 
ing, scarcely any theology — no system of elaborate dogmas 
authoritatively imposed upon the conscience. Neither the 



THE POST-APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 23 

character of the union of two natures in Christ, nor the 
doctrine of the Atonement, had been determined with preci- 
sion, and the whole stress of religious sentiment ivas directed 
towards the worship of a moral ideal, and the cultivation of 
moral qualities. But in the fourth century men were 
mainly occupied with innumerable subtle and minute 
questions of theology, to which they attributed a trans- 
cendent importance, and which in a great measure diverted 
their minds from moral considerations."* Hence their low 
moral state, their crimes, their notion that they might 
excusably do almost anything for the glory of God and 
the salvation of souls. 

Such was the end of a great, and, to human eye, suc- 
cessful attempt to subdue the world to Christ by means of 

an ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



* Lecky : " History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism 
in Europe." 



24 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The inheritor of the Ecclesiastical System, and its modern 
representative, is the Roman Catholic Church of the nine- 
teenth century. Its fundamental principle still is, the 
subjection of the world to the Church. For this end it 
claims catholicity, enforces unity, and insists upon its pos- 
session of "Divine certainty and Divine discernment." 
The conception is a magnificent one ; dazzling to the 
imaginative, captivating to the devout, and courting the 
confidence of all who long to find rest in the bosom of 
infallibility. 

That which has been said of Jesuitism is equally true 
of modern Romanism in all its branches. "It intends 
nothing that is partial or circumscribed ; its very purport 
is universality ; its idol is a vast abstract idea — a beautiful 
conception of spiritual domination, which shall at length 
supplant all other dominations, and insure peace and order 
upon the earth." 

Nor is such a scheme to be regarded as " a mere plot, 
hatched by the few against the rights and liberties of the 
many. So to think of it would be the dictate of a shallow 
philosophy." It is but a provision for that " which minds 
of a certain class — and they are not few — yearn to be sup- 
plied with, and which they must somewhere find ready to 
their use." 



THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 25 

The ancient Church, says a distinguished modern Eo- 
manist, had to encounter organizations so powerful that 
" nothing short of an organization incomparably more 
multifarious in its appliances, more persevering, more 
cohesive, or rather so closely knitted together that each of 
its parts depends upon while it strengthens the rest, — 
discipline being inseparably united with doctrine, and both 
with the innermost thoughts and intents of the heart, — 
could have withstood the force by which it has been 
threatened." 

This organization Borne professes still to maintain, it 
having (so its advocates affirm), in accordance with the 
purposes of God, ultimately developed into a government 
which embraces the w r orld, and claims the sovereigns 
thereof for subjects. The Church, it is said, " must not 
only be independent of all other societies and bodies of 
men ; it must demand a legitimate control over their actions 
in many particulars." 

Again, the Church, if not the creator, is the controller of 
conscience. " The State ought to say " to the Church, — 
"You have the right to control consciences. It is your 
duty so to regulate them as that men shall aid and not 
thwart me in my efforts for the benefit of all." To submit 
the Church to the State is " to place the teacher under the 
jurisdiction of the taught." All civil freedom is dependent 
on the Church. The law of God and the law of the Church 
are co-extensive. " Power therefore is an essential attribute 
of this society, and since it is no society without Christ, the 
power it possesses is truly Divine * 

The question therefore again arises, Is the principle on 
which these assumptions proceed, — viz., that the Church's 

* Essays read at the English branch of the Academy of Borne, and 
recently published, under the editorial superintendence of Dr. Manning. 



26 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

obligation to Christ involves the conversion of the world, 
so far at least as such a work can be accomplished by human 
instrumentality, — a true one ? Is it sustained by Scripture ? 
In other words, Is it of God, or of man ? 

I am not asking whether Popery is of God, or whether 
any part of the particular organization by which that sys- 
tem is sustained is of Divine authority ; but whether, 
apart from all its supposed corruptions, and apart too from 
its pretensions to override alike both secular government 
and national liberty, — apart altogether from the means it may 
employ to effect its object, — the Eomish Church is justified 
in assuming that its great work on earth is the conversion 
of men ; that the eternal happiness or misery of each indi- 
vidual hangs upon the acceptance or rejection, I will not say 
of Bomanism, but of that element of truth which, amid 
much superstition, certainly lies embedded in its teachings, 
— that, in short, out of the Church, widen that term as we 
may, there is no salvation ? 

If it be so, it is certainly not easy to decide where the line 
is to be drawn, or who may venture to say to her ministers, 
" Hitherto shall ye go, but no further." Time is as nothing 
when compared with eternity. Secular interests are not 
worth a thought when placed in comparison with those 
that are spiritual. All human authority fades and disap- 
pears the moment it is confronted with that which is 
Divine. The one and only question worth a thought is, 
Has God in very deed called His Church to undertake in 
His name, and by His help, the conversion of the world ? 
Whether Eome be His Church, and whether its particular 
course of conduct may be either wise or right, is a distinct 
thing. On this point a Protestant writer can scarcely be 
expected to form a favourable judgment. 

Again, the question is not whether any or what amount 



THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



27 



of good has been accomplished either by the ancient Church 
or by its legitimate successor. 

There can be no doubt whatever that the fall of Pagan- 
ism was a blessing, bringing in its train Christian civiliza- 
tion, humane sentiments, improved laws, and the advance- 
ment of society morally and intellectually, as well as 
materially. Lord Macaulay has well said that " the con- 
version of the whole people (of India) to the worst form 
that Christianity ever wore in the darkest ages, would be a 
happy event." 

So also must it freely be admitted, that modern Koman- 
ism is a blessing when compared with the atheistic 
infidelity to which it has frequently been opposed. ISTor 
should it be forgotten, that while, on the one hand, all the 
phenomena of Protestant religious " revivals " recur from 
time to time in that Church, and produce results very 
similar in kind, and quite as permanent in duration, as 
among ourselves ; so, on the other hand, in the ordinary 
course of things, domestic virtue, devout feeling, self-deny- 
ing service, and eminent piety, often distinguish members 
of that apostate communion. 

The effects produced by the preaching of Savonarola are 
in degree repeated year by year under the appeals of devout 
monks in every country of Europe. Xow, as in the olden 
time, it not unfrequently happens, that under strong reli- 
gious excitement children associate themselves for religious 
purposes ; idle diversions are discountenanced ; vice, 
drunkenness, sensuality largely disappear, and are kept 
down often for years afterwards ; schools and shops 
are closed when sermons are preached ; the sound of 
hymns replaces that of licentious songs ; places of amuse- 
ment are deserted, and churches are thronged. It is unde- 
niable that to this day effects of this character are not 



28 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY 

unfrequently produced by the organized efforts of the 
priests and friars of the Church of Eome. 

But are we therefore to conclude that God endorses their 
proceedings ; that His Holy Spirit is poured out upon them ; 
that the Church of Eome is, after all, Christ's representative 
upon earth ; or that her organization thereby receives the 
Divine sanction? Do we not still say, — and rightly, — 
that if her saints were to come out of her, and if the 
ecclesiastical arrangements so much vaunted were to be 
broken up, the world would be benefited and God 
honoured ? 



29 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 

Let us now proceed a step further, and inquire whether the 
Churches of the Eeformation, either National or Congrega- 
tional, Established or Free, have had committed to them the 
conversion of the world ? 

Of course they all believe that this is the chief end of 
their existence. For this, although in different fashion 
and under different forms of government, they organize. 
For this they build churches, and erect colleges, and endow 
chairs, and collect pew-rents to sustain preachers, and form 
societies, and establish newspapers, and edit magazines, and 
circulate tracts, and stir earth with eloquence, and besiege 
Heaven with prayers. For this they live. In this cause 
their noblest and best are willing to die. And all this 
simply because they believe that Christ has called them to 
the work of evangelizing the world, — that the command, 
" Preach the Gospel to every creature," means, preach it to 
every child of Adam, and that therefore it is as much 
addressed to them as it was to the apostles. 

To this extent modern Protestant Churches have 
inherited the opinions of "the Fathers." And not to this 
extent only. For with the sense of obligation to convert, 
they have also inherited, and held in honour, that great 
system of deductive theology which Augustine and others 
so ably expounded and defended. The one is probably 



30 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

inseparable from the other. A preacher without a definite 
theology; a Church without articles, expressed or under- 
stood; a society without a discipline so fashioned as to 
secure the adherence of its members to a given order of 
thought, whether embodied in a written creed or not, may 
be very primitive and very apostolic, but it is certainly, 
to modern eyes, very absurd. Such a condition of things 
would be, without doubt, totally incompatible with modern 
arrangements ; fatal to all denominational existence ; un- 
like anything we can conceive of in connection with 
churches, chapels, ministers, and missions ; adverse, in 
short, to the action of that complex machinery by which 
we now seek to build up each other's faith, and to extend 
the knowledge of God, whether at home or abroad. 

That the formation of National Churches in lieu of 
the one Catholic Church long paralyzed the missionary 
spirit is notorious ; but it did so from political rather 
than religious causes : and the revival, half a century 
ago, of systematic efforts to convey the Gospel to the 
ignorant, was but a natural, and, so far, a healthy re- 
action from the cold and dead formality which national 
religion had engendered. Whether this was the best form 
that the new spiritual life could have taken ; whether the 
movement did not proceed to some extent on erroneous 
views; whether it did not attempt to blend conflicting 
elements — elements incapable of being united, — are ques- 
tions the answer to which will depend very much on the view 
taken of the general line of thought we are now pursuing. 

Dean Alford, — and in this particular he, without doubt, 
utters the convictions of almost the entire religious world, 
— observes, when commenting on the original command 
given in Matthew xxviii. 19, — " Inasmuch as the then living 
disciples could not teach all nations, does the Lord (here) 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 



31 



found the office of preacher in His Church, with all that 
belongs to it, — the duties of the minister, the school teacher, 
the Scripture reader. The command is to the universal 
Church, to he performed, in the nature of things, by her 
ministers and teachers, the manner, of appointing which is 
not here prescribed." 

Is the learned expositor right in this conclusion ? That 
is the question. 

That he is wrong in imagining that later ages can 
accomplish more than apostolic zeal aided by miracle could 
effect I am sure : for literally it is quite as impossible to 
preach the Gospel to every creature now as ever it was. 
But this is not the point. I am not asking whether the 
Church is called upon to perform impossibilities; but 
whether a commission has been given to her to convert the 
world to the extent that may seem to her 'possible 1 Whether 
for this end she is called upon to organize her forces ; to 
gather contributions ; to scatter her expositions of Divine 
truth in the form of tracts broadcast over the whole world ; 
to form societies ; to sustain missionaries, whether at home 
or abroad; to endow or otherwise support professional 
teachers ; and when she has done this, or at least much of 
it, for above half a century, with comparatively very small 
results, to refuse to inquire whether she has done right or 
wrong, content to explain all apparent failure by reference 
to the Divine sovereignty ? 

I say comparatively small results, because I am by no 
means insensible to the amount of good that has actually 
been done ; nor am I inclined to doubt for a moment that 
every honest attempt to benefit others, whether in accord- 
ance with the Divine mind or not — however mixed with 
human infirmity or sin — does in a degree, and by a law 
invariably acting, although its operation cannot always be 



32 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

traced by mortals, obtain a blessing. I. believe tliat in all 
cases and under all conditions, — 

" The quality of mercy is twice blessed ; 
It blesses him that gives, and him that takes." 

But this is no proof whatever that the particular form 
adopted for its conveyance is the one God specially 
approves or signally sanctions. 

Before, therefore, attempting to answer the question now 
before us, viz., whether the Church has or has not in her 
hands a Divine commission to convert the world ? one or 
two matters commonly mixed up with it must be dis- 
entangled. 

It may, then, first be allowed, without really touching the 
point at issue, that National Churches, whatever evils they 
may occasion, are national blessings, so far as everything 
relating to the civilization and Christianizing of a country 
is concerned. That man must be deeply prejudiced who 
cannot allow that, viewed in this aspect, it is greatly to the 
advantage of a State, greatly to the advantage of the poor, 
greatly promotive of morality, decency, and social refine- 
ment, that an educated man, not dependent on the people 
for support, should reside in every parish, and bring the 
influence of his culture to bear on the ignorant and rude 
population by which he is often surrounded. As the chan- 
nel of much beneficence ; as the link that frequently con- 
nects the higher with the lower ranks of society; as a 
visitor among the poor ; as a religious teacher, however 
slight may be his capacity ; as a friend at the bedside of 
the sick and the dying ; as a supporter of schools and other 
agencies for the improvement of those around him, there 
can be no doubt on the mind of any unprejudiced man 
that, allowing for human defects, a parochial clergyman, 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 33 

with his assistants, may he, and in thousands of cases 
actually is, one of the greatest blessings by which a 
country can be enriched. 

It may further be allowed, and with equal pleasure, 
that the labours of the various bodies of seceders from the 
Church of England are, in like manner, fraught with untold 
good ; that their frequently lowly places of worship ; 
their sometimes ruder teaching ; their intense activity ; 
their keen sympathy with the life by which they are 
surrounded ; their charities innumerable ; their popular 
oratory; their social characteristics; their self-government; 
and the stand they have often made against tyranny and 
oppression, — all combine to render them invaluable supple- 
ments to other efforts, and enable them to supply, what no 
other agency is so well fitted to do, safety valves for what 
might otherwise prove explosive forces, and a breakwater 
against the flood of lawlessness which every now and 
then rises in countries where thought and action are 
alike free. 

It is necessary, I say, if we would arrive at truth, to 
disentangle these things from the question really under 
consideration, viz., Whether God has committed to His 
Church the work of evangelizing the world ? Whether He 
has, in any sense ivhatever, made her instrumentally the 
Intercessor for the earth, or the Saviour of the commu- 
nity at large ? Whether, in short, He has made human 
salvation to depend on her delivery of the message with 
which she is supposed to be entrusted ? 

It may to many persons seem a strange thing for a 
believing man, with the Bible in his hand, to affirm, nay, a 
wild and monstrous supposition to conceive, that He has not 
done so. Yet I hold it to be the fact ; a fact as certain as 
that God has accepted the Gentiles, without requiring them 

D 



34 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

to pass through Judaism ; aud if my reader has patience to 
listen, I will simply state my reasons for coming to si 
unusual a conclusion. 
They are these : — 

(1.) Apart from the command given to the apostles, 
"Preach the Gospel to every creature," — a command which, 
as I have shown, was accompanied by the gift of special 
'power for the accomplishment of the work, and by this 
superhuman aid fulfilled in apostolic days, — I can find no 
exhortation in Scripture calculated to lead to the belief 
that the duty of evangelizing the world hy aggressive 
action really rests upon us. 

(2.) I find no promise of Divine aid connected with such 
an undertaking; no evidence that it has, since the apos- 
tolic age, ever been specially vouchsafed ; no reason to 
believe that more real good would not have been done 
had Christians, instead of being mainly distinguishable from 
others by their missionary zeal, been chiefly known by their 
separation from the world, manifested in an elevation of 
thought and feeling capable of being recognized by its effects 
by a higher standard of conduct than can be seen elsewhere 
by greater integrity; deeper humility; sweeter tempers 
a calmer mind; more obvious meekness and gentleness 
a noticeable deadness to the ordinary ambitions of life ; a 
wider charity, and a more enlarged beneficence. Chiefly 
by an open arm, ever ready to receive and welcome any, of 
whatever rank, and apart from all sectarian considerations, 
who, by the grace of God, and by the magnetic force of 
appreciable excellence, may be attracted towards the truth, 
rather than by that continual entreaty and appeal which 
has for so long been regarded as all-powerful. 



THE CHURCHES OF THE JRJBFOBMATIOX. 35 

Such, at least, seems to have been the practice of the 
apostles. The jailer cries, "What must I do to he saved?" 
before the word is preached to him. The eunuch entreats 
teaching before he receives it. Cornelius sends for Peter, 
not Peter for Cornelius. The Jewish proselytes at Antioch, 
in Pisidia, follow Paul for further instruction, not he them. 
Everywhere a prepared people is supposed. Everywhere 
the work of the Holy Spirit precedes that of the human 
messenger. It is because God says to Paul, " I have much 
people in this city," that the devoted servant remains in 
Corinth " a year and six months teaching the word of God 
among them." It is only because he is placed on his 
defence before Felix, Festus, or Agrippa, that he utters a 
word in the hearing of any one of them. At Athens, 
stirred as his spirit was by its idolatry, he is content to 
dispute in the market with such individual^ only as were 
more or less inquiring, and therefore disposed to listen ; and 
it is not till they bring him to Areopagus, and ask him to tell 
them what this new doctrine is, that he addresses them 
from Mars Hill; and when some mock, and others say 
they wish to hear him at another time, he simply departs 
from amoug them. 

Even in relation to bodily healing, whether performed 
by Christ or by His apostles, desire for the benefit, and a 
certain amount of faith in the power of the person applied 
to, are prerequisites. They go, unsent for, to none; all 
come to them. Not an instance is to be found of a 
Divine messenger pressing his exhortations upon any un- 
willing hearer, except in the case of Jews, who recognized, in 
the messages of their prophets, the voice of God, however de- 
praved they might be, or however unwilling to be thwarted 
or rebuked. 



36 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

(3.) I am unable to perceive that a life of outward 
activity, taking the form of incessant preaching and ex- 
horting, whether from the pulpit or from house to house, 
is so beneficial to a man's own soul as is commonly 
taken for granted. On the contrary, I believe it to be 
a life of peculiar peril, unfavourable to the deeper forms 
of the spiritual life ; singularly adverse to the love of 
truth for its own sake ; and when unsupported by medi- 
tation and prayer, frequently productive of formality, and, 
strange as it may seem, of a self-satisfied, hard, and un- 
loving spirit. 

(4.) I notice that all the figures of Scripture which set 
forth the relation of the Church to the world, represent her 
as occupying a passive rather than an active position. She 
is to be " a city set on a hill," to be seen as a refuge, but 
not as an assailant. She is to be a " candle," not " placed 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick," that she may " give 
light to all that are in the house," — a figure representing 
domestic and social virtue rather than public notoriety. 
Christians, in like manner, are to be the "lights of the 
world" and the " salt of the earth," — they are to exercise a 
purifying influence, but of a very tranquil, silent — I had 
almost said unperceived — kind. 

Again, they are to be "meek," not militant; sufferers 
rather than combatants. No figure implying warfare as 
their duty is to be found in Scripture, excepting such as 
refer to victories, by faith, over inward evil and over persecu- 
tion, by steadfastness and patience; over all temptation, in 
short, hy the power of the Holy Ghost. The armour of God 
is altogether defensive. It is not adapted for attack. 
The " good soldier of Jesus Christ " is he who bears hard- 
ness. The victor is the man who endures unto the end. 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 37 

In the message to the Seven Churches from Him " who 
walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks/' there 
is not a single reference to anything beyond what would 
be called, in our noisy age, mere passive virtues. Not 
a single commendation is bestowed which implies activity, 
in the sense of aggressive attack on the evil in the world 
by public exhortation or appeal. The praise given and 
the reward promised is for patience ; for rejection of evil ; 
for testing truth ; for labouring in good without fainting ; 
for overcoming self and sin, temptation and persecution ; 
for faithfulness unto death ; for holding fast the name of 
the Eedeemer ; for not denying Christ under the influence 
of the fear of man ; for love and loving service ; for good 
works ; for keeping the Lord's works unto the end (Rev. 
ii. and iii.). 

The condemnation pronounced, and all accompanying 
threats of punishment, are for the loss of first love ; for 
falling away ; for licentiousness ; for conformity to idola- 
trous customs ; for sanctioning immoral teaching ; for 
having a name to live while really dead ; for unwatchful- 
ness ; for self-conceit ; for ignorance ; for self-dependence 
and estrangement from God. The exhortation is, " Be 
zealous, therefore, and repent" 

The blessings promised comprise immortality, — eating of 
"the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of 
God ; " a " crown of life ;" freedom from the power of " the 
second death;" hidden manna; the "white stone;" power 
over the nations — to "rule them with a rod of iron;" the 
"morning star;" clothing in "white raiment;" retention 
in " the book of life ;" recognition before " the Father and 
before His angels ;" the reverential submission (" worship ") 
of all enemies ; deliverance from the hour of the great 
"temptation that is to try them that dwell upon the earth:" 



38 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY 

being made "a pillar in the temple of God;" finally, to sit 
on the throne of Christ, even as He is set down with the 
Father on His throne. "Not a word indicates triumph in 
the conversion of the world. Not a syllable is pronounced 
likely to encourage such an attempt. The woes of Scrip- 
ture are only on the man who causes weak ones to stumble, 
who hinders any in their approach to Christ or in their 
growth in godliness. 

(5.) I observe that among " the fruits of the Spirit " zeal 
for the conversion of men is not mentioned. The fruits are — 
" love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" 
(Gal. v. 22, 23). Again, "the fruit of the Spirit is in 
all goodness and righteousness and truth ; proving what is 
acceptable unto the Lord" (Ephes. v. 9, 10). The "living 
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God," is nonconformity 
to the world, — transformation of mind, — improvement of 
gifts bestowed, — ministering to the Church, — teaching, — ex- 
horting one another, — giving, — ruling, — showing mercy, — 
loving without dissimulation, — abhorring evil,- — cleaving 
to good, — exercising kindly affections and brotherly love, — 
in honour preferring one another, — being industrious in 
business, — fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, — rejoicing in 
hope, — patient in tribulation, — instant in prayer, — bene- 
volent, — hospitable, — blessing even persecutors, — cursing 
none, — sympathizing with others' joy or sorrow, — compas- 
sionate, — condescending, — without revenge, — just, — peace- 
able, — leaving vengeance to God, — feeding enemies, — over- 
coming evil with good, — submitting to all lawful authority, 
— free from debt, — loving others as ourselves, with all that 
this involves, — walking as children of the light, — bearing 
with weak brethren, — pitiful, — courteous. — eschewing evil, 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 30 

— doing good, — seeking peace and following after it; in 
short, the cultivation and practice of " whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honest (or, venerable), what- 
soever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso- 
ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good 
report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise," 
says the apostle, " think on these things " (Eom. xii., xiii. ; 
Phil. iv. 8; 1 Pet. iii. 8—17). 

Such is the inspired catalogue of Christian graces; audit 
is certainly not a little remarkable that, on the suppositiou 
of Christ having committed to His Church the conversion 
of the world, not a ivord should he said respecting the right 
performance of such a duty. One cannot but feel that 
if any modern divine were required to draw up such a list 
of Christian excellences, he, — unless he submitted himself 
to apostolic precedent, — would leave out not a few that are. 
here made prominent, and insert many that are here 
omitted. 

(6.) I notice that the present purpose of God, so far as 
it is revealed in Holy Scripture, seems rather to be the 
perfecting of the few than the general improvement of the 
many. Everything seems to me to point in that direction. 
That the Gospel is ultimately to benefit the many is clear 
enough; but at present, — judging from the experience of 
the last 1,800 years, — its power as a renewing element 
seems confined to the few. 

The teaching of the Lord himself while He was on earth 
shadows forth such an intention ; — " Unto yon" He says to 
the disciples, "it is given to know the mysteries of the 
kingdom of God : but unto them that are without, all these 
things are done in parables : that seeing they may see, and 
not perceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not under- 



40 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

stand ; lest at any time they should be converted, and their 
sins should be forgiven them" (Mark iv. 11, 12). "For 
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have 
more abundance : but whosoever hath not, from him shall 
be taken away even that he hath" (Matt. xiii. 12). The 
true recipient of the doctrine is like a man who, having 
found hidden treasure, goes and sells all that he has to be- 
come possessed of it (ver. 44 — 46). The beneficence of the 
Lord seems unlimited to those who desire His healing 
blessing ; but His instructions were reserved for the few 
who were in a state of mind to benefit by them. And yet 
His heart is full of love to the multitudes, of whom He 
always speaks tenderly as " sheep without a shepherd." 

(7.) I observe, as a fact in history, that, — as in earlier 
days, so still, — -just in proportion as Christianity extends 
through human agency, it deteriorates; it loses, as if by 
a sort of necessity, much of its superhuman and Divine 
character, and becomes more earthly in its aims and 
end. 

While Christians are few in any given country, they 
commonly feel themselves to be " pilgrims and strangers," 
— dead to the world, alive only to Christ. When they be- 
come many new views arise. Their hope and aim then is 
to improve the world in which they find themselves a power ; 
to render it a fit abode for the righteous; to regard the 
Gcspel as intended for its adornment. They now live not 
so much to bear a witness for God, as to benefit the race ; 
they become the men of progress ; and they have, for the 
most part, unbounded faith in the earth's future, as one of 
increasing piety and prosperity. I am not now saying 
whether they are right or wrong in taking this view of 
their duty. I speak only of the fact. 



TEE CEURCEES OF TEE REFORMATION. 41 

For the same reason, and in the same way, it comes 
to pass that wherever Christians are few, and withont any 
immediate prospect of increase, the perfecting of the 
individual character, and the attainment of likeness to 
Christ, becomes the prime object of life. When they become 
many, the carrying out of schemes for the extension of the 
faith, or the application of the great principles embodied in 
Christianity to the necessities of society, somewhat super- 
sedes more personal considerations. This is generally 
regarded as an advance in godliness, since it certainly 
leads believers to think less of themselves and more of 
others. 

Again, while Christians are few, truth is naturally 
regarded as the first thing to be sought — its attainment the 
great object of a good man's ambition ; when they become 
many, it is commonly assumed that man's chief end is to 
glorify God rather by practising and propagating what he 
has inherited. In this case truth is ordinarily held to be 
actually in possession — at least, all important truth ; for 
now a distinction is drawn between certain elementary 
truths which are regarded as fundamental, — their reception 
necessary to a man's salvation, and other truths supposed 
either to be less clearly revealed, or else unessential to the full 
development of the Christian life and character. The few 
may believe that everything God has revealed in Scripture, 
whether distinctly stated or but dimly indicated, whether 
embodied in history or veiled in prophecy, has its object 
and end, and is therefore to be diligently searched out ; the 
few may be willing to wait hopefully for new light, and to 
dig assiduously and patiently, whether in the light or in the 
dark, for hidden treasure ; the many are always irritated 
by what they regard as a waste of time and energy in un- 
practical speculations ; they protest loudly and with one 



42 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

accord against any unsettlenient of received opinions ; they 
do not believe that Scripture is in any sense progressive; 
they regard its revelations as long since made plain, our 
only remaining duty being to enforce the views we hold so 
dear, on all men. The religion of such persons is therefore 
mainly, if not exclusively, objective and active ; and since 
intense outward activity rarely consists with a spirit of 
meditative inquiry, they are too often content to do, hoping 
that the blessing they seek to convey to others will not fail 
to fall upon their own souls. 

The many always seek to act with others — for human life 
is in the main a social thing ; but the study of Scripture, 
like all other study when earnest and absorbing, tends to 
segregate rather than to unite. " Passion is adhesive ; a 
common interest cements ;" but the pursuit of truth for its 
own sake, as a rule, keeps men apart from the crowd, 
and this "just in proportion .as the inquirer learns, by a 
more or less keen insight, — by more or less of sorrowful 
experience, — that his object is not the object of the men 
around him, even when they leave the things of time and 
sense, and consult the lively oracles, and worship God." 

Further, a spirit of inquiry, if cultivated, supposes the 
possession of at least some time for quiet thought, and, as 
its accompaniment, a strong sense of individual responsi- 
bility. But a life of incessant activity, even for God, 
commonly brings with it a supposed inability to find leisure 
for much personal investigation, and before long actually 
produces so strong a moral and intellectual distaste for such 
employment, that it may, without impropriety, be called 
moral inability to pursue it. Such persons, therefore,-*— 
pressed as they say they are by overwhelming demands on 
every side, — naturally exalt and lean upon professional 
teaching; rely much on the power of money and machinery 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 



43 



as instruments of good ; and in the higher life, too often 
relegate what have been termed " counsels of perfection " 
to other worlds or happier times. 

Nor should such a course be regarded as either strange 
or inconsistent in any one who believes that the religion of 
Christ, in its higher as well as lower aspects, is intended 
for nations as well as for individuals ; for there are un- 
doubtedly injunctions in the Sermon on the Mount which, 
however admirable in themselves, and however practicable 
by one who is content to give up this world for the next, 
cannot be carried out as they stand, and without compromise, 
by any great organized community, representing, as modern 
governments do, all classes in society. They suppose a 
theocracy. 

As a necessary consequence therefore, when any nation, 
as such, adopts Christianity, and professes to govern itself 
by the law of Christ, compromise is inevitable, and the 
conventionalisms of a Christianized community necessarily 
take the place of the sterner and more rigid demands of 
the Master. But what the nation does as an organized 
whole is seldom surpassed by the individuals of which 
it is composed. The all but inevitable result, under such 
conditions, is the general lowering, in practical life, of 
a standard regarded as too high for the world as it is, 
although the original ideal of right as laid down in " the 
Book " may still be taught, and, in the abstract, reverenced. 
Nothing is more certain than that every one of us is likely 
to become " better or worse morally, to advance or to retro- 
grade socially, according to the standard of life which pre- 
vails around us — a standard which ive arc each individually 
helping to depress or to raise!' The difficulty of rising 
above this level is felt by every one who aspires after a 
truly noble and spiritual life. 



44 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

(8.) I observe that, as a rule, the mingling of the godly 
and the ungodly in public worship * for the purpose of 
promoting at one and the same time the growth of the 
believer and the conversion of the sinner, has an in- 
jurious influence on each of these classes. The former is 
wearied by incessant repetitions ; injured by the habitual 
ignoring, in these mixed assemblies, of truths which, how- 
ever needful for him, are not adapted to a general congrega- 
tion ; and often led to doubt his true position as a renewed 
and saved man, by finding himself perpetually confounded, 
both in public prayer and preaching, with those who are 
altogether unspiritual. The latter, exaggerating the im- 
portance of what are termed " the ordinances of religion ;" 
led habitually to unite in the singing of hymns which are, 
in his lips, altogether unreal and inappropriate ; expected 
to support the ministry by his contributions, and to give 
his money in aid of missions both at home and abroad, 
soon comes to regard religion as largely consisting in such 
services, and is naturally led, in the observance of Sunday, 
in the reading of the Bible, in formal prayer, and some- 
times in the reception of what are termed "sacraments," 
to conclude — and especially when his general conduct is 
regulated by the same conventional standard as the more 
religious — that he himself enjoys all that is really intended 
by regeneration. 

Outward difference between the Church and the world, 
in such a state of things, cannot exist. One man may be 
living to God, and another entirely to himself, but the 
Searcher of hearts alone knows which is which. The 
witness of the Church is lost. Yet the world has not become 

* As I shall have occasion in a later chapter to refer more at length to 
this admixture, it is only needful to say here that I do not advocate any 
attempt at a separation of classes by man. 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 45 

the Church, nor has the difference between the one and the 
other been, in the slightest degree, in essential matters, 
diminished. 

(9.) I think I see reason to believe that the vulgarizing 
of sacred things, by indiscriminate speech ; by the circula- 
tion of religious tracts among all classes ; by the creation 
of a religious literature, — sometimes merely sensational, 
commonly exaggerated, sometimes sectarian, sometimes 
merely philanthropic, and sometimes half political : the 
commonizing of exercises which, pertain only to the re- 
newed heart, by public advertisements of prayer meetings ; 
by placards in the streets announcing special seasons of 
devotion ; by noise and religious excitement ; by platform 
speeches and popular addresses ; and by a thousand well- 
meant but injudicious devices to arrest the careless, or to 
quicken 'the half-hearted, has a very decided tendency to 
take off the tender bloom from piety ; to lessen the delicacy 
of touch with which all Divine things should be handled ; 
to lower spirituality of thought and feeling ; to cheapen 
and coarsen things which were never intended to be thus 
dealt with ; to pander to that spiritual pride and restless 
vanity to which man is ever prone ; to cast pearls before 
swine; and to alter the character of godliness itself, by 
making it to consist, not as the Lord did, of self-sacrifice, 
but in a rather pleasurable religious excitement: lastly, 
and worst of all, to expose Holy Scripture, and all the 
duties faith in it involves, to the criticism of men whose 
moral state disqualifies them from comprehending the true 
character either of " the Book" or the believer. 

For these, as well as for many other reasons, I am led 
very seriously to doubt whether Christ has ever called His 



46 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

Church to the work it has undertaken ; whether our 
various religious machinery — our churches and chapels, 
our ministry and missions, our religious societies and reli- 
gious publications — nearly all that goes to constitute the 
religious world of the day, is not rather of man than of God. 

I do not either say or think that no good has been 
effected by these agencies. I do not pretend to decide 
what would have been now the actual state of society had 
they never been called into existence. I do not feel that 
in searching for the right path, and seeking to ascertain 
the will of God, I have anything to do with that question. 
I do not wish to hide, either from myself or others, that 
God often uses the most imperfect instruments, and some- 
times the most corrupt organizations ; that Popery as well 
as Protestantism has its bright side ; that national as well 
as voluntary churches have each achieved the ends for 
which they were adapted ; that every sect and party with- 
out exception has, in its degree, helped to elevate public 
opinion, to improve the condition of humanity, to dignify 
life, to repress crime, and to promote virtue. 

All this may be allowed, and yet it may be indubitably 
true, that the idea of Christ as embodied in the ISTew Testa- 
ment would have been more largely realized in broader 
distinctions between the righteous and the wicked, in a 
more disinterested piety, and therefore on the whole hi 
happier results, had the Church clone less, and been more ; 
had vital Christianity never associated itself with profes- 
sional life; had it been kept, as a thing apart, from all 
fellowship with worldly ease, status, rank, ambition, from 
everything in short that the unrenewed man as such can 
either desire, understand, or estimate. 

"With less of the earthly in our religion there would then 
have been more of the heavenly. If miracles had been 



THE CHURCHES OF THE REFORMATION. 47 

needed, miracles would without doubt then have been 
vouchsafed. Earth would, in some of its aspects, certainly 
have been a diviner thing than it now is, and hell at least 
would not have been in alliance with professedly Christian 
ministers in persecuting the conscientious or in shedding 
the blood of the saints. Atheism or Paganism might still 
have claimed their victims ; but the horrors of the Inquisi- 
tion, and the enormities of what are known in history as 
" religious wars," would have found no place in the annals 
of the world. Stumbling-blocks without end would have 
been taken out of the way of the weak and the feeble ; 
doctrine would not have superseded life ; nor deeds of 
shame have been canonized when done in the service of 
the Church. 

All these things, and much more than can here be re- 
cited, are the fruits of organized Christianity ; the natural 
if not necessary consequences of the belief that a man's 
salvation hangs upon his attention to, or neglect of, the 
teachings of ecclesiastics ; or if not so, upon his acceptance 
or otherwise of given doctrines, put before him, at the best, 
very imperfectly, and unsustained by any evidence he is 
capable of appreciating ; often contradicted by the lives of 
those who enforce them ; and sometimes by the very Book 
from which they are professedly deduced. 

The result of the whole appears in Christendom as it is, 
— Papal, Greek, or Protestant ; in the heathen world, as it 
remains after centuries of Eomish aggression, sealed by the 
blood of many martyrs, and after at least sixty years of 
earnest and self-denying effort on the part of the purest 
and most evangelical believers that the modern world has 
ever seen ; in Mohammedanism all but untouched ; in 
infidelity ruling over nearly all the cultivated minds of 
Europe; and in the intelligent artisan class everywhere 



48 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY, 

alienated alike from religion and its professors. Litera- 
ture meanwhile is Christianized, but not Christian ; science 
and philosophy stand aloof in scorn ; aboriginal nations, 
after years of untiring labour for their conversion, hope- 
lessly disappear before the white man; superstitions the 
most abject revive in the very midst of us ; violence and 
oppression are as rampant as ever ; civilized communities 
are still ravaged by war, and stained by innumerable 
crimes ; the elements of disorder are scattered on every 
hand, and Caesarism is the degrading hope of millions. 

Such is the world, and such the so-called Church of 
Christ, after ages of effort on the part of every variety of 

ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



CHAPTER Y. 

REMONSTRANCE AND REPLY. 

I AM quite aware that the reader, long before he has got to 
the end of my reasons for doubting the aggressive com- 
mission of the Church, will have become sadly impatient 
to remind me that Scripture clearly identifies growth in 
grace with endeavours to benefit others ; that the promise 
is, he that watereth others shall himself be watered also ; 
that the voice of inspiration cries, " Curse ye Meroz ; curse 
ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof ; because they came not 
to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
the mighty." 

I shall further be told that God says to the prophet, 
" Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, 
and give them warning from Me. When I say unto the 
wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not 
warning, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; 
but his blood will I require at thine hand;" that the great 
apostle of the Gentiles exclaims, "We are ambassadors 
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we 
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God;' 5 
that God himself has not only commanded both prayer 
and effort for the world's conversion, but has actually 
promised that He will pour out an abundant blessing 
on those who seek it : " Prove me now herewith, saith 

E 



50 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows 
of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
not be room enough to receive it ; " finally, that the 
parable of the marriage supper definitely lays down the 
obligation that ever presses upon us, to go out into " the 
highways and hedges," and " compel " sinners " to come 
in." 

It will probably be added, that although Judaism has 
passed away, there is the same necessity now as ever, that 
an order of men should be entrusted with the conduct of 
Divine worship; that the schools of the prophets among 
the Jews correspond to modern colleges for clergy; that 
the synagogue, if not a positive model for later forms of 
Church order, was nevertheless the pattern of the primi- 
tive congregations ; and that this method of conducting the 
public services of the sanctuary was sanctioned alike by 
Christ and by the apostles. 

It may be that, rising into something like indignation, 
my interrogator will ask if common sense is to be aban- 
doned ? if Churches are to be broken up ? and if, after 
dismissing our congregations, we are simply to sit down 
and passively wait for the coming of the Lord ? If this 
course be disclaimed, he will probably cry, ' What good on 
earth then can arise from discussing a question which in 
that case has no practical bearing ? Tell us plainly what 
you would have us to do, and what you would desire 
us to leave undone.' 

This is precisely the point at which I wish to arrive. 

Before, however, answering the questions put, allow me to 
protest against a use of Scripture which, however common, 
is altogether unjustifiable. The text, " He that watereth 
shall be watered also himself" (Pro v. xi. 25), does not 
really refer to any spiritual service whatever. It simply 



REMONSTRANCE AND BEFLY. 51 

expresses a fact of life, borne out by all experience, that he 
who helps others in their need will himself find help in 
the hour of his own necessity. The man whose soul 
shall be " like a watered garden " is he who deals his 
bread to the hungry, and satisfies "the afflicted soul" 
(Isa, lviii. 11). The curse on Meroz is Deborah's antithesis 
to her blessing on Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for 
betraying Sisera. What has that to do with the preaching 
of the Gospel ? 

The warning to Ezekiel is against an unfaithfulness 
which, whether arising from fear or any other cause, 
might lead him to keep back the message God directly 
and specially sent by him to his rebellious countrymen. 

An "ambassador" is one who receives his credentials 
direct from the sovereign. "The office, like its designa- 
tion, is not definite nor permanent, but pro re nata merely." 
A modern preacher, however devoted he may be, is no 
more a "watchman," or an "ambassador" for Christ, than 
he is one of His apostles : he is not even a " shepherd." * 

The promise of blessing, on which so much stress is 
laid, is simply no promise at all. We have only to open 
our Bibles, and to read carefully the chapter in the 
prophecy of Malachi from which the words quoted are 
taken, to perceive that the prophet is charging the people 
with robbing God, by keeping back the tithes and offerings 



* In Scripture the term "shepherd " is applied in a metaphorical sense to 
Cyrus (Isa. xliv. 8); to princes and riders generally (Jer. ii. 8; xii. 10; 
rxiii. 1; xxy. 34; Ezek. xxxiy. 2); to God (Psa. xxiii. 1); to Christ 
(John x. 11 ; 1 Pet. ii. 25) ; to Apostles (John xxi. 16) ; and to Elders who 
teach authoritatively, and in that character demand submission (1 Pet. v. 2 — 4; 
Heh. xiii. 17). The spiritual shepherd in Scripture always unites govern- 
ment with teaching, the primary idea being that of authoritative rule. A 
minister of the Gospel occupies no such position. 



52 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

which, by the law of Moses, they were bound to pay. He 
calls upon them to repent of this sin, and to bring in what 
was due ; promising that if they do so God will send upon 
them large and unexpected temporal prosperity. The 
text has no reference, whatever to prayer or spiritual work 
of any kind. 

Nor is the parable of the marriage supper at all more 
in point, since it obviously refers not to the general 
preaching of the Gospel, but to the ingathering of the 
elect.* Of the six passages of Scripture quoted, each in 
turn apparently regarded as conclusive, there is not one 
that has really, when honestly interpreted, any bearing on 
the matter. Scripture, when accommodated in this way, 
has no authority whatever. So used, the words, however 
inspired, are not of God. 

Of the "schools of the prophets" we know little, and that 
little is anything but favourable either to their faithfulness 
or efficiency. We have no evidence that the order was of 
Divine appointment, and we have sad proof that the per- 
sons thus trained were, as a rule, whether men or women 
(Ezek. xiii. 17, 18), found in opposition to the true 
prophet. They were the preachers of " smooth things," — 
the builders who " daubed " with " untempered mortar," — 
the hirelings who were willing to please either prince or 
people, as the case might be, for " a piece of bread " 
(Ezek. xiii. 2 — 16 ; Jer. xxvii. 9 — 16 ; xiv. 14; xxiii. 21 ; 
xxix. 8, 9). Let this, however, be as it may, there is 

* The entertainment is not provided or intended for all the king's subjects. 
"When the first invited have refused to come, the servants are indeed com- 
missioned to bring in indiscriminately any they may find, but only till the 
house is filled, — till the wedding is furnished with guests. From the time 
of the rejection of the Jews to the present moment, the marriage supper of 
the Lamb has waited, because God has not yet " accomplished the number 
of His elect." (See Dr. Maitland's " Eruvin.") 



REMONSTRANCE AND REFLY. 53 

nothing whatever to show that these persons were ever 
intended to be models for a New Testament ministry. 

As to synagogue worship, there can be no doubt that it 
did furnish, in degree at least, and as distinguished from 
the service of the temple, something like a copy for the 
assemblies of the first Christians. But the points in which 
it did so are precisely those which do not belong to modern 
places of worship, since these are not courts of law, with 
punishments, as the synagogues were ; nor yet courts of 
arbitration, as the first Christian assemblies probably were 
(1 Cor. vi. 1 — 7) ; still less places for open ministry, as 
loth were (Acts xiii 15 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 26 ; Heb. x. 25). 

But why should either prophet or synagogue be 
brought forward to illustrate the obligations of the 
Church in relation to the world ? The idea involved in 
Judaism was unquestionably that of limitation, as opposed 
to universality. For above two thousand years this chosen 
nation, miraculously sustained and divinely governed, 
receives no commission to extend, by anything like mis- 
sionary effort, the knowledge of the true God. Generations 
come and go ; judges, kings, priests arise and disappear, 
without even attempting, by any active or aggressive pro- 
ceedings, to shed a ray of light on the nations outside the 
promised land. No prophet passes the narrow limit of 
this " Switzerland of the East," unless, indeed, it be, as in 
the case of Jonah, for the purpose of denunciation. No 
attempt is made to radiate truth from this little centre. 
No missionary spirit is either excited or developed through 
its entire history. On the contrary, everything is arranged 
to prevent intercourse with the heathen, even on the part 
of those who, at different periods, for commercial or other 
purposes, settled in foreign lands. 

And yet as a fact, the Jews did, especially in the 



54 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

brighter periods of their history, exercise a very powerful 
influence for good on the surrounding nations; a much 
more powerful influence than has ever been exercised over 
heathendom by any or all of the missions — Eoman Catholic 
or Protestant — that have sprung into existence in modern 
times. 

The state of Nineveh, is an evidence of this. Jonah 
prophesies, and instead of killing him, as might have been 
expected, king and people with one accord humble them- 
selves before the Lord, — proof in itself that a great amount 
of light must have streamed in from Judea. Nebuchad- 
nezzar in Babylon bowing before Daniel as a prophet of 
God is a second instance. Darius is a third. Ahasuerus 
is a fourth. Cyrus is a fifth. In all these cases, be it 
observed, no aggressive action had been taken. Daniel 
seems to have been a faithful servant to the king of Baby- 
lon, but nothing more. Neither Mordecai nor Esther had 
attempted to shake the existing idolatry. It is their fidelity 
to their God, so far as they themselves were concerned ; 
their purity of life ; their trustworthiness, and nothing else, 
that does the work. 

The illumination that, in any case, fell either upon 
monarchs or their subjects, reached them like the beams 
of the sun ; it penetrated by its own power, it was seen 
by its own light, it carried its own evidence with it. 

At a later period there is every reason to suppose that 
the deepest and best thoughts of the more enlightened 
philosophers of antiquity, whether of Greece or Eome, drew 
their inspiration from the writings of this despised and 
secluded people. Portions of their literature, whether 
historical, as the Pentateuch, — poetical, as the Psalms, — 
prophetic, as the denunciations of the seers, — or didactic, as 
the Proverbs of Solomon, although never circulated among 



REMONSTRANCE AND REPLY. 55 

the heathen, fell from time to time into the hands of 
inquirers, and often found a welcome among men who felt 
the darkness in which they were involved. 

The very existence of "proselytes of the gate" proves 
that no harrier was set up to stop the way of any 
heathen man seeking after a knowledge of the light of 
life, and it is clear that none could lawfully exclude from 
Jewish privileges any who sought in the appointed way to 
share their advantages. Eeprobation finds no place in the 
counsels of our God. 

The fact that through all the stages of the Israelitish 
history a body of persons, not of their race, but holding the 
same faith, appears by their side, is very suggestive. Every 
institution seems to presuppose and provide for the in- 
corporation of strangers. The prophets plead their cause 
along with that of the widow and the fatherless, and one of 
them at least looks forward with joy to the time when they 
shall be in all respects equal to Israel (Ezek. xlvii. 22, 
compared with Psa. lxxxvii. and Ephes. ii. 19). Of the 
proselytes of later days, we read in the New Testament 
that one builds a synagogue (Luke vii. 5), that others came 
up to the great feasts (Acts ii. 10), and that they all shared 
with the Jew in religious worship (Acts xiii. 42; xvii. 
4; xviii. 7). Nor is it a little singular that the only 
active effort to win men to Judaism that we hear of, is 
made by persons from whom all that was most true and 
living had departed : " Woe unto you, Scribes and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land to make 
one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold 
more the child of hell (gehenna) than yourselves" (Matt. 
xxiii. 15). 

Nothing can be clearer than that the power of the chosen 
people to do good to others was to be derived, almost 



56 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

exclusively, from the elevation of their own characters. 
With this end in view, — the personal sanctification of 
the Jew himself, — all the institutions of the Mosaic eco- 
nomy were framed. They were neither intended nor 
adapted for transplantation to other soils. The child of 
Abraham, like his great ancestor, was to live and die under 
laws which to him were often burdensome, and to other 
men must have appeared utterly ridiculous. Just in pro- 
portion to his obedience to those laws was he scorned 
by the heathen. He was despised precisely to the extent 
in which, under the fear of God, he submitted to Divine 
ordinances "binding on him, but not obligatory on others. 

Yet the responsibility of the Jew in relation to mankind 
at large was both real and pressing. He was to be a 
witness for truth amid surrounding idolatry and sin. The 
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the noblest 
and best of the race as beincr, in fact, " a great cloud of 
witnesses " to all generations. But this was to be accom- 
plished mainly by example. No command, I repeat, is 
given to the Israelite to propagate by preaching the truth he 
possesses ; he is to live it. His power for good is to be de- 
rived almost exclusively from the elevation of his character. 
He is to be an attractive, but not an aggressive missionary. 

I wonder whether it will be possible to induce Christian 
men in these days seriously to inquire whether, in this par- 
ticular, the principle of the earlier dispensation is indeed, as 
has generally been supposed, different from that on which 
our own rests ? whether, in short, we are justified in con- 
cluding, as we seem to do, that the two economies embody, 
so to speak, two different thoughts of God ? 

It is certainly worthy of note that truth never made 
so much progress among the heathen as when it was 
altogether unaggressive, and had to "be sought for by those 



REMONSTRANCE AND REPLY. 57 

who wanted it. It is surely equally remarkable that in 
modern times truth has never taken so strong a hold on a 
pagan people, never spread so rapidly, never endured such 
cruel persecution, never produced such nobility of character, 
as it has done in an instance where Providence has forced 
us, after heralding the Gospel, to withdraw from its further 
propagation, — where, under circumstances to human eye 
the most unfavourable, it has struck deepest root. I refer, 
of course, to the island of Madagascar. There, in the 
absence of any action from without for above a quarter of 
a century, without a missionary, without any organized 
Church, without any European teacher, without any ex- 
penditure of money, the seed, but slightly scattered, has 
sprung up, no man knoweth how, and brought forth fruit 
" thirty, sixty, and a hundred-fold." 

I have no wish to draw any invidious contrasts, but one 
cannot fail, in comparing what has taken place in that 
island with the results of long-continued and most unsparing 
effort in New Zealand, in the Society Islands, in India, 
or in any part whatever of the missionary field, to come to 
the conclusion, that as man disappears from the scene, God 
manifests Himself; that the holy and seK-denying life of 
a few natives, and especially when accompanied by the 
patient endurance of suffering, has been the most powerful 
of all preaching; that God apparently will not give any ex- 
tended blessing to schemes which, whatever may be pro- 
fessed, seek to plant among pagan tribes our own theologies, 
our own forms of Church order, our own blunders, and our 
own imperfect and artificial Christian life. Happy will it 
be for Madagascar if she does not in a while become as 
formal and as weak as others under the tender care of her 
well-meaning nurses, — under the rival claims of Congrega- 
tionalism and Episcopacy. 



58 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BIBLE AND THE MINISTRY. 

Two questions, neither of which have at present received 
the attention they deserve, have now to be examined. The 
one is, the relation of the Bible to an ungodly world ; the 
other, the true idea of the Christian ministry. 

On the first of these subjects I am inclined to think 
much popular misapprehension prevails. It seems to be 
taken for granted that the Bible is as much God's gift to 
the world as it is to the Church; that it was intended 
to be a means of conversion quite as much as of edifica- 
tion; that it is as adapted to create spiritual want as to 
supply that want where it exists. 

But is this the fact ? Granting, as beyond question 
among Protestants, that Holy Scripture should be open 
to all, and that facilities for its study should be afforded 
to every inquirer after truth, is it equally clear that it 
should be placed in the hands of all, whatever their state 
of mind and heart may happen to be? I think not. 

Much that it contains is, without doubt, common pro- 
perty, and fitted alike for young and old, poor and rich, 
educated and uninstructed ; for no other book contains 
so many facts with which it is important mankind 
should be acquainted, and, when devoutly read, no other 
book is so well adapted to purify the taste, to enlarge 
the mind, or to improve the heart. 



TEE BIBLE AND THE MINISTRY. 59 

But it is a two-edged sword. Its perusal may be as 
mischievous to some as it is advantageous to others, anil 
in its distribution the exhortation of the Lord must be 
ever kept in mind, " Be ye wise as serpents, but harmless 
as doves." 

The very structure of the book indicates this need. 
It consists of and embodies, first, the literature of a divinely 
chosen and miraculously governed nation ; then, inspired 
records involving at every step supernatural interferences 
on behalf of given men and given teaching ; finally 
letters which from their very nature must sometimes be as 
incomprehensible to the irreligious as the mystic prophecy 
with which the whole concludes. What can it have to say 
to a man who disbelieves in the supernatural altogether, 
and who criticizes chapter by chapter, just as he would any 
other ancient document ? 

He may admit much that it contains. He may regard 
it as largely historical. He may be charmed by its 
poetry, or fascinated by its simplicity. He may, both 
intellectually and morally, be the better for such of its 
teachings as seem to him useful and instructive. Beyond 
this it can have no value, or rather, only be of value to the 
extent that the man is morally and spiritually prepared 
for its examination ; yet we regard the sacred volume as 
intended to be the chief means of the world's conversion, 
and we scatter it broadcast with that view. That expe- 
rience has to some extent corrected this error may be 
allowed, for both at home and abroad every effort is now 
made to sell the sacred volume as preferable to gratuitous 
distribution. But this does not altogether meet the evil ; 
for it is anything but wholesome that the poor should be 
coaxed into the purchase of a Bible, or be led to believe 
that the mere possession of the book is a religious privilege 



60 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

its purchase an act of piety. The present utter alienation 
of the artisan class from everything that is Christian is 
evidence enough how little they have benefited by the 
book thus pressed upon them. Might it not diminish 
our complacency in the fact that we have now circu- 
lated, through the various Bible societies of Europe and 
America, eighty-five millions of copies of the Scriptures in 
whole or in part, were it possible for us to ascertain how 
many of these have been distributed in utter neglect of the 
direction of the Lord, " Cast not your pearls before swine " ? 

I am quite aware that the ground I am now treading 
is peculiarly delicate ; that almost every word I write 
is liable to misconstruction; that many will hasten to 
infer that on this point I either sympathize with Koman- 
ists, or that from some cause or other I am opposed to 
the Bible Society, and have become desirous of discourag- 
ing the circulation of the Scriptures. 

As I should be very sorry to convey to any mind so 
erroneous an impression, I think it better to say at once 
that I have no such tendencies ; that what I wish to 
convey is, not that any man, however wicked, should be 
shut out from the reading of the Divine record, but that 
the sacred volume ought not to be placed in the hands of 
persons who are not more or less desirous of knowing what 
God has revealed, and who are not, in some degree at 
least, prepared to receive the Word in its true character, 
to read it reverently, and to respect its contents. The 
parable of the sower, so often brought forward to show 
that the Bible should be broadcast over the world, really 
teaches a different lesson. The wise sower does not cast 
his seed anywhere, or fling it from him at random, he 
sows only on previously prepared ground. True, in so 
doing, some seeds may fall by the wayside, some among 



TEE BIBLE AND TEE MINISTRY. 61 

thorns, and some on rock but superficially covered with 
soil. Yet tins is not his intent ; it is an accidental cir- 
cumstance, over which he has no control. That which 
falls on the ploughed ground can alone be expected to take 
root and bring forth fruit. 

The Christian may have much to say to persons who are 
by no means in a prepared state of mind. He may have 
much to do, both for the hater of truth and for the scoffer 
at it, in the way of benevolent help, — in imparting which he 
is, of course, bound to direct attention to the Divine giver 
of all good, and to do what he can to excite a desire for 
the knowledge of His will ; but until that desire is excited 
he is not justified in exposing to scorn a book which, 
misused, can do its possessor no good, but may do him, in 
many ways, great harm. 

I fear that in our desire for extension, in our admiration 
of magnificent plans and gigantic combinations, we have in 
this matter sadly neglected the Saviour's wise teaching; 
that we have been far too mechanical and indiscriminate 
in our circulation of the Scriptures ; far too ready to 
imagine that the mere multiplication of copies by the 
printing press must of necessity advance the Eedeemer's 
kingdom ; that the most thoughtless or unwilling perusal 
of a Bible is likely to be accompanied by a Divine bless- 
ing ; perhaps more than half disposed to believe that be- 
cause the word of God is to the Christian the sword of 
the Spirit, searching the very thoughts and intents of the 
heart, therefore it is likely to be to every man " the candle 
of the Lord." 

But is it so ? Have we not evidence to the contrary ? 
Have we not but too much reason to believe that casting, 
as we have so largely done, this pearl of great price before 
men quite unprepared to estimate its value, the result has 



62 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

been precisely what the Lord has led us to expect — the 
rising np of a school, numbering among its disciples not 
only the great majority of the active and cultivated in- 
tellects of the age, but nearly the whole body of skilled 
artisans, — the masses of modern society, — which only turns 
again and " rends us ; " rends us by criticism, appropriate 
enough from the unbelieving standpoint of those who issue 
it, but only a thorn in the side of those who see by another 
light; rends us by contrasting our so-called Christian 
nations, and their conventional morality, with the Sermon 
on the Mount ; rends us by insinuating doubts which, apart 
from supernatural influence, can never be dispelled ; rends 
us by separating the morality of the Bible from its Divinity; 
rends us by lowering its entire tone and teaching to the 
standard of what is called practical life ; rends tcs by making 
the revelation a thing of earth rather than of heaven, — 
a record which may be improved or expurgated, accepted 
or rejected in whole or in part, according as it may be 
found to agree with human intuitions, or accord with 
human aims and ends. 

When shall we learn that it is one of God's great laws 
that the seed and the soil must be adapted to each other? 
When shall we not only admit, but believe and act on the 
belief, that the Spirit must precede the Word, or the book, 
however ably translated, or however frequently read, will 
be, for all its highest purposes, as effectually sealed as if it 
were presented in an unknown tongue ? 

Yet are we not, from fear of consequences, to withhold it, 
when sought, from any ; nor are we to delay opening it up by 
translation, as God may enable us, to every people under 
heaven, for we know not whom the Lord our God may call. 
All I say is, that as a rule, the "living epistle" and oral 
testimony should precede the written document. There 



TEE BIBLE AND TEE MINISTRY. 63 

have been instances, I doubt not, in which the apparently 
accidental possession of a Bible has appeared, so far as man 
may judge, to have been the sole means of spiritual change ; 
but these cases are rare and exceptional. ^Speaking generally, 
it is evidently God's design that men should be drawn 
to Him, not by books or tracts, however useful in their 
place, but by the human voice and by means of human 
affections. 

The " message " of the Gospel, as embodied in its great 
facts and elementary principles, is indeed, whether delivered 
by the preacher, or gathered from Scripture, " worthy of all 
acceptation," albeit but few perceive that worthiness ; but 
the deeper things of God, — the hidden mysteries which 
are revealed in the Bible, — are not for all men. As in 
the days when Jesus was on earth, so now, and for the same 
reasons, hidden though they be in great measure from us, 
the Lord of light and love sees it best to say, regarding the 
many, " Unto them that are without, all things are done 
in parables : that seeing they may see, and not perceive ; 
and hearing they may hear, and not understand." The 
word withheld, because it would be abused, is doubtless 
kept back in love; and the mere fact that Divine Truth 
always has been, — in every age as now, — placed absolutely 
beyond the reach of the far greater part of the inhabitants 
of the earth, might alone help us to understand the many 
intimations of Scripture which point to a great future 
restoration, and encourage us to hope that in other worlds, 
and under happier auspices, apparently lost myriads will 
eventually be brought home on the shoulders of the Good 
Shepherd. At present the law is, " To him that hath shall 
be given ; and he that hath not, from him shall be taken 
even that which he hath." 

ISTeed I say that what is true of the Bible is still more so 



64 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

of the religious tract? Anything less suited to indiscri- 
minate circulation than ordinary religious tracts it would 
be impossible to conceive of. Embodiments as they are 
for the most part of Puritan theology, dealing largely with 
the deep things of God, full of texts torn from their con- 
nection and applied, or rather accommodated, at the pleasure 
of the writer, nothing can be more mischievous than to 
scatter them, as is so often done, by the wayside, or to 
give them, at random, to every passing stranger. As well 
might a physician, under false notions of benevolence, 
fling his prescriptions before all the sick people he met, 
without the slightest regard to their varying conditions, or 
indeed taking the least trouble to ascertain their true state. 
Now and then he would find they did good, and even 
saved life. To how many they might do harm he would 
not of course care to know. 

And here I cannot but refer to an address just delivered 
by the Chairman of the Congregational Union to the repre- 
sentatives of that body in session assembled. I do so, not 
merely because it was a discourse of unusual excellence, 
but chiefly because the sentiments expressed were eagerly 
indorsed by the assembly and ordered for publication. 
I do not of course pretend that the opinions in question 
are identical with my own, but I do say that jjrinci'pUs 
were involved which, whether perceived by the hearers or 
not, go far to condemn very much of what is the pride and 
boast of the religious world. 

The topic of discourse was " the relation of the ministry in 
its public exercises to the standard of the Christian life 
commonly attained" by those who listen to it. The 
speaker, while deeply in earnest, was calm and dis- 
passionate, and his address, as reported, is free from all 
one-sided and exaggerated statement. 



TEE BIBLE AND THE MINISTRY. 65 

The judgment he formed of things as they are seems to he 
this, — that while much good is doing, it is characteristic of 
our day that Christians generally are found in a low spiri- 
tual condition; that they have little thought or expecta- 
tion of rising, while in this world, into a much higher state ; 
that they do not think such advancement imperatively 
necessary, or even practicable ; that they deliberately aban- 
don any signal improvement of their nature to the day 
when they shall open their eyes on the world of spirits; 
in short, that they are, for the most part, " resigned to the 
evil which they cannot hope in this imperfect state to 
escape." 

Thus judging, he naturally inquires, what relation the 
public service of the ministry bears to this state of things ? 

He holds — and in so doing he asserts a truth little 
recognized amongst us — that the ministry is instituted 
rather for " the perfecting of the saints " than for the con- 
version of the world ; and if that chief end is not generally 
attained, he thinks it fitting to ask why it is not. 

On two things he lays stress. One is, that while in the 
public ministrations of the Church he thinks there is 
little or no unfaithfulness in the exhibition of cardinal 
truths, and while valuable impressions are, from to time, 
made upon hearers, the awakened conscience is not suffi- 
ciently disciplined or guided, nor the detail of Christian 
duty sufficiently entered into. The other is, that enough 
is not done in public to elucidate the meaning of Scripture 
in a way likely to direct and guide subsequent study. 

"Work, he says — and how truly ! — is now commonly pre- 
scribed as "one of the most effectual means of personal 
improvement," and sometimes in a way that would imply 
that if abundant work is committed to the Christian con- 
vert's hands, his spiritual safety and progress are all but 

F 



66 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

insured. But he adds, Christian activity and labour will 
not suffice for this, for the most active and laborious 
Christians are " sometimes seen to decline in the power and 
life of the Spirit." 

He sees, among other hindrances to what is good, the 
demand for "strong emotional excitement;" and he thinks 
it " an evil sign when a congregation disperses with satis- 
faction on every face, and praise on every tongue;" for, he 
goes on to say, it is the preacher's duty to preach sermons 
which his hearers "often ought not to be able to enjoy, 
since he is sent not to please, but to instruct." 

He does not see, or seeing, ignores the fact, that the 
minister who did this would very soon be reminded by his 
deacons that he was injuring " the cause," emptying the 
pews, and sowing the seeds of trouble in the Church, for 
.his people hear him only because they like him as a 
preacher, — only because he reflects what they regard to be 
the truth, — only because they are comfortable under his 
teaching. 

He sees, further, that men now-a-days make as much 
haste to be rich spiritually as they do materially; that 
they practically say they must become wise mviftly, or 
not at all; that religion, like business, must yield quick 
returns : and he well observes, this impatience ought not 
to be regarded, "for the true artist is not moved in the 
execution of his work by the haste and rush of the world 
around him." 

He forgets, or fails to perceive, that a modern minister 
has no power to resist the current feeling of the day, unless 
he is willing to become a martyr. His very position, 
whether in or out of the Established Church, forbids that 
he should set himself against any phase of public opinion 
that is fixed and decided. He is no artist, pausing when 



TEE BIBLE AND TEE MINISTRY. 67 

he thinks it needful to do so. He is working for his 
bread, and, whether it be a wholesome proceeding or not, 
he must go on. And not for bread only, but for position, 
for influence, for all that he has been taught to regard as 
usefulness. 

The speaker sees plainly enough that the judgment 
which now subordinates all other purposes of the ministry 
to the conversion of the ungodly is a false one ; he regrets 
that a writer of considerable influence in the Noncon- 
formist churches should have said that " the saving of 
souls is of far more importance than the care of converts ;" 
he complains of the perpetual cry that "the end of the 
ministry is to convert men — to win souls for Christ," — 
rather than for the presenting of every man perfect in 
Christ Jesus ; that it is indeed commonly supposed to exist 
chiefly for purposes other than those which the Master and 
His apostles emphatically declared it was instituted for. 

All this he sees, but he does not see that if souls are 
perishing because the Gospel is not more frequently or 
more impressively presented to them, no other conclusion 
is possible to a humane man than the one he laments, — 
viz., that everything else must be laid aside to carry on 
the work of saving them ; that if Christ has really made 
the conversion of the world to depend on the exertions of 
the Church, Christians may very excusably avoid much 
devotion of time to their own growth in grace, if thereby 
they can do more to promote the eternal welfare of others. 

Above all, he seems to forget that pulpit discourses, 
when addressed, as they always must be, to mixed audi- 
ences, are altogether unadapted to promote the perfecting 
of character ; that such discourses can, in the very nature 
of things, never have more than a general relation to the 
circumstances and character of those to whom they are 



68 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

addressed ; that trie guidance which he thinks necessary 
to the formation and growth of Christian excellence can 
never be imparted in any discriminating way to a mingled 
crowd of young and old, men and women, righteous and 
unrighteous, thoughtful and careless persons, — to such as, 
in fact, ordinarily constitute the audience of a preacher ; 
that to enter into the details of Christian duty in a public 
place of worship would neither be practicable nor profit- 
able; that such a mode of instruction cannot make pro- 
vision for it ; and that, even if it did, it would commonly 
happen that the man who was well qualified to arouse or 
to impress would be quite unable to build up an expe- 
rienced believer ; that he would of necessity be oftentimes 
too young, — have too little knowledge of the world, — be, in 
all respects, too inexperienced for such a task ; that to 
attempt it would only be to fail, by demonstrating his own 
utter incapacity to perform a work which requires qualities 
the very opposite of those which are demanded of the 
popular preacher. The truth is, character never was, nor 
ever can be, formed or developed by public address. Only 
by private instruction, by confidential intercourse, by a 
close, personal application of Scripture to known wants 
and circumstances, can any man be permanently influenced. 
Public speech can rarely do more than call attention to 
deficiencies, and excite a desire or determination to 
remedy them by watchfulness, by secret discipline, and 
by a close personal contact with the word and the Spirit 
of God. 

And here a very .serious question arises, which it is by 
no means easy to answer. It is this, — Is it true, as is 
sometimes affirmed, that popular evangelical religion, as 
ordinarily presented, has, in some directions, a deteriorat- 
ing effect on those who come under its influence, so that 



TEE BIBLE AND TEE MINISTRY. 69 

certain classes of character become worse instead of better 
in consequence of the religions views they adopt ? 

I fear there is more truth in this affirmation than we are 
generally willing to admit. I believe that instances not a 
few can be found, in which men, after falling under the 
influence of evangelical religion in some of its more popular 
forms, have become less conscientious in relation to the 
fulfilment of certain duties, less candid in their judgments, 
less unselfish in their creed, less disinterested in the pursuit 
after truth, than they were before what has been termed 
their conversion. 

Nor is it so very difficult to see a reason for this. 
Virtue has much more to do with a healthy, calm, and 
well-balanced mind than has been generally supposed. If 
a man — which is by no means an imcommon case — 
receives the Gospel in a one-sided form ; if he gets ex- 
cited about it ; if he is led to dwell overmuch on his own 
personal safety ; if he comes to imagine himself a sort of 
favourite of God ; if in exalting justification by faith alone 
he is led to undervalue moral worth; if his mind is 
diverted from endeavours after personal improvement, even 
though it be by dwelling on his privileges as a Christian ; 
if he begins to associate the Divine favour with the parti- 
cular class of views he holds as all-important ; if he accus- 
toms himself to wink at corruptions in the Church ; if he 
hardens into a religious partisan ; if he once gets the notion 
into his head that he is in Goshen, and the rest of mankind 
in Egyptian darkness ; if he exalts doctrine over life, zeal and 
activity over passive graces — anything, in short, over moral 
likeness to Christ, he is sure to deteriorate. And that so 
many do, if not go back, at least fail to advance in nobility 
of character, need excite no surprise when it is recollected 
how little is done for the education and training of the 



70 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



believer, — Low common is the delusion that if men once 
repent and believe, growth in grace will follow as a matter 
of course ! 

The question of questions for all of us is, — What is the 
remedy, and where is it to be found ? 

I am no believer in panaceas of any kind ; still less do I 
imagine that I am in possession of any sovereign remedy 
for ills so deeply seated as are those of the Church in the 
present day. But I do not think I can be far wrong in 
suggesting that, if the weakness of which we now hear so 
much be real, it must be occasioned by our negleet of some 
one or other of the means God has provided for the educa- 
tion and training of His people. 

Two things, I suppose, will be admitted : — first, that the 
Lord and His apostles always teach that the Christian life, 
like everything else that is to be exhibited in humanity, 
requires long and careful culture ere it can reach even a 
relative perfection ; and secondly, that among ourselves the 
only recognized agency for promoting growth in knowledge, 
in faith, or in love, is " the ministry of the Gospel," includ- 
ing under that term discourses from the pulpit, and the in- 
struction imparted in what are usually termed Bible classes. 
Religious books can scarcely be reckoned as more than inci- 
dental aids, and religious service, whether in the Sunday school 
or in the visitation of the poor, however valuable, must in 
like manner be regarded as a result of piety rather than as 
a means of spiritual improvement Work of this kind may 
be, and no doubt frequently is, greatly favourable to the 
health and growth of the soul ; but inasmuch as it is very 
easy to do religious work in an irreligious spirit, it by no 
means follows that employment of this character has any 
necessary connection with advancement in the life and 
power of the Spirit. 



THE BIBLE AXE THE MINISTRY. 71 

Ministry, using that word in its scriptural sense, is un- 
doubtedly the great agency for the moral and spiritual growth 
of the body of Christ, and one in the absence of which all 
other agencies are comparatively of little worth. But 
ministry is of two kinds ; it is to the world and for the 
Church. It is the heralding of the glad tidings of redemp- 
tion through Christ to all who will listen, and it is the edify- 
ing of those who believe,' by exposition of Scripture, and by the 
cultivation of all the graces therein commended and enforced. 

The question is, Can these two ends be accomplished at 
one and the same time ? Do the obligations they involve 
properly fall upon one and the same person ? On the 
answer given to this all-important inquiry almost every- 
thing turns. 

The experiences of 1,800 years, whatever they may be 
worth, are certainly on the affirmative side, for everywhere, 
and in all ages, the worship and teaching of the Church 
have been public property. The congregation, the parish, 
the nation, have all in turn been invited and commanded 
to unite in common prayer, and to listen to a discourse 
intended for them all. At the Lord's Supper alone have 
Protestants ever sought to separate classes, granting to some 
participation in an ordinance which has been withheld from 
others. Our churches and chapels are all conducted on the 
assumption that the same worship and the same lesson are 
adapted to all, since it is in the power of the preacher to 
discriminate in his address, alternating his exhortations and 
appeals to the righteous and the wicked. The religious 
world of our day — using that term in its widest sense, as 
including all who profess and call themselves Christians — 
is the result of the system. 

That this mixed body has its bright as well as its dark 
side cannot be disputed truth can never be reached by 



72 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



ignoring either the one side or the other. Let us then 
admit, for we honestly may, that, bad as the world is, it 
probably never was better than at the present moment. 
It is certain there never was so much religiousness in 
England as there is now. There are, indeed, black spots 
upon us, of which we have great need to be ashamed ; but 
truth seems to demand the admission that men in general 
were never wiser, gentler, or more considerate in their rela- 
tions to one another than they are now ; that laws never 
were so just, manners so humane, or religious knowledge so 
widely extended ; while it is indubitably certain that an 
amount of active benevolence is now called forth of which 
other ages knew nothing. 

True, indeed, it is, that ours is an age of low ideals, and 
of feeble convictions, of much insincerity and of wide-spread 
scepticism. True, also, it may be, that our religion has 
now become a respectable rather than a self-denying thing ; 
that, as it has been cleverly said, " it generally divides its 
affections with the utmost impartiality between this world 
and that which is to come ;" that what once meant " the 
embodiment of all truth and holiness in the midst of a 
world lying in wickedness, now often means philanthropic 
societies." 

All this may be admitted, and much more too, without 
shaking the fact that nevertheless % men are wiser than 
they once were ; that, as the result of a wider sense of 
brotherhood, commerce is uniting nations too long severed 
by their mistakes ; that liberty, the handmaid of intel- 
ligence, is ever marching onward; that physical science 
is extending its benefits on every side, imparting to 
multitudes that material comfort without which moral 
growth is hopeless; that the Bible is now distributed 
in all lands; and, amid whatever drawbacks, that the 



TEE BIBLE AND TEE MIX1&TRT. 73 

knowledge of the Gospel, both at home and abroad, is 
steadily advancing. 

To many persons this will seem enough, or if not 
enough, at least as much as ought reasonably to be ex- 
pected. Instead of dissatisfaction, such will say, all 
around us calls for gratitude and gratulation. 

Everything, as I have observed before, turns upon our 
ideal of Christianity, — upon what we believe Christ in- 
tended His Gospel to be and to do. If it came into the 
world, as so many seem to think, merely or chiefly to im- 
prove society, ,to adorn humanity as a whole, to make the 
earth a happier dwelling-place for the children of men than 
it otherwise would be, it is not unreasonable to say that 
if it has not yet done its work, it is at all events rapidly 
comnletincp it. But if, on the other hand, we regard these 
ends as only secondary and incidental; if the p?'imary 
object of the Saviour was the immediate perfecting — I had 
almost said deifying (2 Pet. i. 4) — of the few, with a 
view to the ultimate benefit of the many; if Scripture 
means what it says when it affirms that the disciples of 
the Eedeemer are to be a peculiar people, dead to the 
world, alive unto Christ — men having both obligations and 
privileges distinct from others, everywhere called upon to 
keep themselves somewhat apart, and bidden always to 
live in the expectation of the return of their Lord,— -then 
the whole case changes, a different standard is applied, and 
a different judgment is the result. 

Of course it will be understood that I regard the latter 
and higher view as alone tenable from Scripture ; and I 
can scarcely be mistaken in supposing that such is the 
conviction of the author of the " Address " from which I 
have quoted. 

Accepting, then, the opinions there stated as furnishing 



74 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



the most recent, the most unobjectionable, and the most 
authoritative utterance on our actually existing religious 
condition, — since it comes before us with the endorsement 
of a numerous and influential ecclesiastical body, of all 
others least disposed to take dark views, and more than 
most delighting to be identified with modern progress, — I 
trust I shall not be charged with cynicism if in their words 
I repeat, that while individual examples of great moral 
and spiritual excellence abound, "the proportion is very 
large (among real Christians) of persons who exhibit but 
feebly and indecisively the Christian spirit and life ; " that 
" low attainment expresses the prevailing character of the 
religious life of the day ;" that " observation will bear fur- 
ther witness to the very frequent absence of all earnest 
desire and endeavour after a truer and nobler life ;" that 
" there is often no conviction of any urgent necessity for 
it;" and that, "however desirable this higher life may 
seem to be, it is the reward of a labour which it is not 
possible to expend in the acquisition of it." 

Now on these statements, in the fidelity and accuracy of 
which I firmly believe, I am simply desirous of remarking 
that it is impossible that things should be otherwise so long as 
the preaching of the Gospel to the world is conducted as it is, 
and while the Ministry of the Church is altogether in 
abeyance. 

In relation to the first of these subjects — the general 
preaching of the Gospel — I most heartily echo the state- 
ment that neither Clergymen nor Dissenting ministers are, 
as a body, by any means chargeable with unfaithfulness. 
I believe that there never was a time when preachers were, 
as a rule, more earnest, more devoted, or better qualified 
for their work than they are now. 

It may be, as has been suggested, that the minister often 



THE BIBLE AND THE MINISTRY. 75 

" wants faith " in the possibility of elevating the character 
of his people. It may be that, " when face to face with 
hundreds of souls whose failures and weaknesses and dan- 
gers appeal to him for help," he sometimes fails, in the 
brief period that is allotted to him, "to bring out the 
meaning of the Divine word ;" to " carry it home as spirit 
and life " to the consciences of his hearers ; to " show a 
due regard to the range and comparative worth of mo- 
tives ;" to " guide the formation and growth of Christian 
character ;" to " treat with sufficient frequency and ful- 
ness and explicitness of the moral dispositions and habits," 
or to give adequate directions for the use of recognized 
means of spiritual " improvement." But all this is merely 
to say that he cannot perform impossibilities, — that it is 
folly to ask for services which no human being, under the 
circumstances, can render. 

What, then, is to be clone ? I reply, first of all, separate 
the preaching of the Gospel to the ignorant and uncon- 
verted from the Ministry of the Church, for until this is 
done, it is absolutely impossible to take a single step in 
advance. How much a change of this kind involves we 
shall perceive as we proceed in the further investigation of 
our subject. 



76 



CHAPTEB VII. 

THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. 

By the Preacher of the Gospel I here mean the herald 
of good news — the publisher of the glad tidings of 
redemption — the evangelist as distinguished from the 
pastor. 

I say emphatically the herald of "glad tidings/' — of 
" good news/' and not of wrath or of condemnation, because 
I believe the special and peculiar work of the preacher to 
be the announcement of a great salvation. He is the mes- 
senger of One who came " not to condemn the world, but 
to save it." 

" Wrath," says the apostle Paul to the Eomans — " the 
wrath of God" against evil — is already revealed, is con- 
tinually being revealed, " not in the Gospel, but in a 
universally to be seen revelation " (Alford) ; it is a wrath 
revealed every day, both in the operations of physical law, 
and in the visibly disastrous moral consequences which sin 
always entails upon those who indulge in it. No special 
revelation is needed to teach man that God hates all wrong- 
doing. The Gospel does not come to tell us of a wrath 
that nature and conscience have always proclaimed. It 
is tidings of deliverance from the wrath. It is the reve- 
lation of a Eedeemer, of One " mighty to save." 

But though the Gospel does not come to reveal wrath, it 
does most clearly justify the righteousness of God in being 



TEE PREACHER OF TEE GOSFEL. 77 

wroth with sinners, since they are evil-doers, not by- 
necessity, but of choice. The wrath, be it observed, is 
against men who, in consequence of their ungodliness, 
hold down and suppress such truth as they have received, 
and in so doing sin against light. 

Further, the salvation to be announced, although involv- 
ing, as a consequence, deliverance from the just indignation 
of a righteous God, and hence from the misery necessarily 
flowing therefrom, is stated to be primarily and essentially 
from sin, — from the evil self. It is deliverance from the 
dominant power of " the world, the flesh, and the devil." 

It is not presented to us as a salvation from hell, carry- 
ing with it a present joyful deliverance from the fear of 
unutterable pain ; it is salvation from a disobedient will, 
carrying with it an immediate and conscious reconcilia- 
tion to God. 

Need it be said that w T e have no right whatever, on the 
plea of hoping to do more good, to change this order of 
things, or to present the Gospel to the rebellious in any 
other form than that in which it is revealed? 

We have no commission to teach, and we can find no 
justification in teaching any man, that God demands his 
love, on pain of eternal torment; or that it is because we 
know the terrors of the Lord, the fearfulness of the 
punishment He inflicts, that we seek to drive sinners to 
Christ. Such is not the character of the message the Lord 
has hidden us to deliver. Paul indeed says, " Knowing the 
terror (or, as it should rather read, the fear) of the Lord, w T e 
persuade men " (2 Cor. v. 11) ; but the terror or fear — 
take the word as we may — refers to himself, not to those 
whom he addresses. The sentiment of the text is, " Being 
a genuine fearer of God, I endeavour to make my plain 
dealing evident to men, as it is evident to God " (Alford). 



78 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



Yet how differently we act ! I have at this moment, and 
quite by accident, lying before me two very recent numbers 
of a small religions periodical, edited by an excellent 
minister in Scotland, and having a very large sale on both 
sides of the Tweed, in which I find, either in extracts from 
sermons or in editorial remarks, the following statements, — 
all, be it observed, within the compass of sixteen pages. I 
take them just as they stand : — 

" Sinner, supposing you were never to commit another sin, you are as sure 
of being in hell and suffering there as that you are now alive. Stop, then, 
working, eating, sleeping, until you get your soul saved. Now is the 
moment for it ; and if you take God's way it will not require longer than one 
tick of your watch to believe in Christ, and so to get rid of the fearful 
wages of sin. His (the Lord's) receiving those wages of sin is the same as 
if you had personally received them." 

Again, — 

"If the death of Jesus does not attract you, may the thought of hell 
scare you — may the eternity of torment terrify you. Many of you are going 
to be damned. How shall ye escape the damnation of hell, asks Jesus, if ye 
continue to neglect so great salvation as that which is preached unto you 
from week to week ?" 

Surely it is not justifiable to take the words of the Lord 
to the " scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, " and to affirm, 
in effect, that He connects them with a portion of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, and sanctions the statement that 
they who neglect sermons are by Him doomed to everlast- 
ing misery. A religion of this sort is, like Eomanism, a 
religion of terror, and too often of mere selfishness. 

But what shall we say to habitual untruthfulness in the 
use of Scripture when sinners are addressed ? Yet here 
it is, full bloivn. 

The preacher is seeking to convince his hearers that 
their natures are utterly depraved ; and thus he proves Irs 
point : — 



THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. 79 

" Isaiah," he says, " tells us what we are. ' From the sole of the foot even 
unto the crown of the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds and 
bruises and putrefying sores.' And God does not compromise the matter, but 
adds, ' The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.' " 

A glance at the first chapter of Isaiah will suffice to show 
that all this is, so far as the passage quoted is concerned, 
false teaching, since the prophet is speaking, not of the 
depraved nature of the Israelites, but of the severity of the 
punishment God had recently inflicted on them by the hand 
of the heathen. 

But the speaker proceeds, — 

"Every sinner is a condemned man; for it is written, 'The soul that sin- 
neth, it shall die ' (Ezek. xviii. 20)." 

Yet here, too, so far as the text is concerned, the teaching 
is false, since Ezekiel goes on to say that he who will " do 
that which is lawful and right shall surely live, he shall 
not die" (ver. 21). That many of the offences spoken of 
are only against the ceremonial law, and that the death 
threatened is temporal death for disobedience, will be 
plain enough to any one who will take the trouble to read 
from the sixth to the sixteenth verse of the chapter. 

But again, — " ' Behold, I stand at the door, and knock/ 
says Christ ; and if I knock at your door, it is to tell you 
salvation is a completed work." Such is the view of the 
preacher ; but a glance at the text (Eev. iii. 20) will show 
that the Lord is addressing a lukewarm church ; that He 
is referring to the immediateness of His second advent ; 
that He is not speaking to the sinner, and telling him that 
salvation is a completed work. 

Ao;ain, the sinner is told, " The wicked shall be turned 
into hell, with all the people that forget God" (Psa. ix. 17), 
the object being to show that forgetfulness and inattention 
to the Gospel involve the same doom as its absolute re- 
jection. But the fact is, the word translated "hell" is the 



80 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

same word (slieoT) that is used by Jacob when he exclaims, 
" I shall go down to the grave mourning," and that the 
punishments of the world to come are not referred to at all. 
So far, then, as the text in question is concerned, in all 
respects the teaching is again false. 

Will it be said that, in cases of this kind, "the end 
sanctifies the means " ? Surely not by any man who be- 
lieves that, above all things, God honours truth. 

Of other assertions, as dogmatically insisted upon as if 
they were clearly revealed facts — such as that " before a 
man can obtain peace, he must know the grounds on which 
God has made a settlement of his sin ; or that, having 
believed, he is to consider himself at once equal to the 
highest saint ; that he is not to talk about ' getting behind 
the door in heaven/ but to say, c My ticket is a ticket for 
the throne-seat. I will pass through all the angel ranks 
till I be seated with Jesus on the throne'"* — I will here 
say nothing ; but when I am perpetually told that, in 
complaining of perverted Scripture, I am contending with 
an imaginary evil, it is needful to justify one's course. 

What I maintain is, that these excited utterances, 
whether from the pulpit or the press, are not the Gospel. 
Not in this way did either Christ or His apostles preach. 
Not by such means did they commend the truth to every 
man's conscience as in the sight of God. 

Further, I greatly doubt whether we are justified in 
making the use we do of hymns and prayers as means of 
conversion. I say nothing here about the kind of hymns 
that are now used in revivals, or the kind of prayers that 

* This last quotation is from a sermon by an uneducated revival preachet, 
■who addresses multitudes with great power ; but it is inserted by the editor 
not only without a note of warning, but accompanied by the expression of a 
belief that the preacher must have been " helped of the Lord" 



TEE EREACEER OF THE GOSPEL. 81 

are frequently offered. I speak of the use, in any form, of 
prayer and praise, — the chief privileges of the Christian, — 
as weapons of assault upon the unbeliever. I do not believe 
that the apostles or the first Christians would have so used 
them. I see no evidence whatever that they would have 
invited any one to join them in these sacred services, with 
whom they would not have been prepared to break bread 
in memory of the Lord. 

Again, I find nothing in the Acts of the Apostles, or in 
any other part of Scripture, which would lead us to suppose 
that, in the Christian assemblies, appeals or addresses were 
ever delivered which took for granted that a large portion 
of the congregation consisted of persons who were present 
only as attendants on a means of grace, and who came 
simply to be acted upon; or that the first teachers of 
Christianity ever encouraged the notion that such attend- 
ance was, if not in itself religion, at least the nearest 
approach to it that an unconverted man could make. 

The proclamation of the Gospel to the world at large 
was then evidently regarded as something quite distinct 
from the assembly of the saints ; and it was, I believe, 
never accompanied by services of worship which properly 
belong only to the Christian. The deluding absurdity of 
first inviting a congregation to unite as Christians in exer- 
cises of prayer and praise, and then addressing them as 
little better than heathen, was certainly avoided. 

Let me not, however, here be misconceived. I do not 
say that we are never to pray with the irreligious. On the 
contrary, when such persons wish that supplications should 
ascend ; when we have any reason to believe that a want 
is felt which it is desired we should express ; when, in fact, 
we are really but interpreters of the felt need of others, 
nothing can be more appropriate. But this is a very dif- 

G 



82 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

ferent thing from giving, as is often done, either to 
prayer or praise, the character of a sermon, and offering 
either with the intent that it should act chiefly, if not 
entirely, on the feelings of the hearer. 

And what reason is there to suppose that preaching, if 
separated from these adjuncts, would be at all less effective 
than it now is ? The phenomenon of sudden conversion, 
indicated by deep grief, ecstatic warmth of feeling, and 
overflowing joy, so far as it is genuine, does not depend on 
these stimulants, and would still occasionally be observed ; 
for these forms of excitement, although often delusive, and 
always to be dealt with prudently, are sometimes, without 
doubt, the result of true convictions. " Those who deride 
these things know little of the secret powers, the reserved 
forces of the human spirit, and are unaware that in the 
depths of ignorant and hardened, and weary and distracted 
souls, there is still a strength, blind and fettered like 
that of Samson, needing a shock to set it free." But such 
effects would then be legitimately produced, as they were 
under Peter's sermon at Pentecost, rather by a plain and 
pointed statement of facts, than by any appeal to the fears 
or passions of the hearer. 

Again, evil, and not good, I think, arises when, Sunday 
after Sunday, as our custom is, the most thoughtless are 
led to helieve, however frequently they may be told the con- 
trary, that prayer and praise offered in the congregation is, 
in a certain sense, their own act, and that it partakes more 
or less of the nature of religion ; that God is pleased with 
it;, that what is called "attendance upon the appointed 
means of grace" — a phrase apparently intended to imply 
that the Lord has somewhere commanded ungodly men 
thus to assemble, in order that they may receive from Him, 
while in this path of duty, some promised blessing — is 



TEE PREACHER OF TEE GOSPEL. 83 

obligatory on all. By what scriptures applicable under 
the New Testament economy such a view can be sustained 
I am at a loss to conceive. 

At the same time I am far from supposing that those 
who ordinarily attend Divine worship, whether in or out of 
the Established Church, yet do not communicate at the 
table of the Lord — a class forming the great bulk of most 
congregations, — ought either to be considered as unbe- 
lievers, or to be dealt with as such. Such persons do not, 
as a rule, properly rank in that category. They are for 
the most part individuals in whom the Christian life is but 
partially or very feebly developed. What they need is not 
the constant reiteration of truths with which they are 
already well acquainted, but spiritual education and train- 
ing—to be gained only in the communion of the Church, 
by intercourse with persons who live the Gospel, and by 
assistance and encouragement in the study of the Scrip- 
tures. 

The class which I think is injured rather than bene- 
fited by outward admixture with true Christians, because 
always in danger of resting in mere formalism, or subsiding 
into unconscious hypocrisy, is that which includes in it 
the immoral, the profane, the utterly careless, the grossly 
ignorant, or the absolutely irreligious. Such should never 
be led to suppose, as there is too much reason to fear they 
often are, that their prayers — utterly insincere — can ever 
be other than an abomination to the Lord; that their 
affected songs of praise and thanksgiving can be anything 
but hateful to their Maker; that their attendance on 
public worship can be looked upon by Him in any other 
light than as a delusion or a pretext. 

These ungodly ones, wherever they can be met with, 
whether in public or in private, should be solemnly warned 



34 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

and earnestly invited ; but beyond this little can be done 
for them. To attempt more can, humanly speaking, do 
little good, and may do much harm. 

There is a power in silence which is sometimes denied to 
speech. There is a force in pity, in sorrow, in affection, and, 
above all, in a consistent character, which is not found in 
reproach or in rebuke, in exhortation or in appeal. Who 
can tell that a witness of this kind, were it but common, 
might not be more effective than anything else ? 

It would at least not injure those who are now too 
often hardened by the perpetual but profitless excitement 
of their feelings ; or made formalists by being ranked as 
worshippers ; or deceived by the supposition that taking a 
pew, and sitting regularly there, and paying subscriptions 
to religious objects, is religion ; or led into fatalism by 
their misapprehension of teachings regarding the Divine 
sovereignty which they have no faculty to understand ; or 
seduced into hypocrisy by a demand for professions in 
which the tongue outruns the heart ; or become superstitious 
by the abuse of sacraments ; or are filled with false ideas of 
God by the many perverted forms in which Divine truth 
is, for the sake of effect and immediate impression, pre- 
sented day by day. 

Yes ! granting, as we ought thankfully to do, that much 
good is done by preaching as it is now carried on, it is still 
anything but wise to forget or to refuse to see that much 
harm is also done by the same process, and that many are 
made worse by what is intended to amend them. 

The apostle Paul seems to say that this was the case 
with his own ministry, even to the Church, when he tells 
the Corinthians that while it was unto one " a savour of 
life unto life," it was to another " a savour of death unto 
death" (2 Cor. ii. 16). He does not mean, as we com- 



TEE TREACHER OF THE GOSFEL. 85 

monly understand him, that his words carried with them 
either eternal life or eternal ruin to the hearer, but that 
the characteristic of his teaching was that it either ele- 
vated or deteriorated those who listened to it. It was so 
sincere and heartfelt (ver. 17); that instead of being a sort 
of neutral thing, neither doing good nor harm, as is the 
case with so much of human speech, it either quickened 
and strengthened the Divine life in a man, or deepened the 
darkness of his already dead soul. 

May it not be, as a friend has suggested to me, " that 
because truth, misconceived or rejected, becomes mischiev- 
ous to men, that the Lord so often spoke to the multitudes 
only in parables ? He certainly acted on the supposition 
that few people are fit to know much ; that few are fit to be 
near Him, or to have His mind opened to them ; that to 
have the truth without loving it is perhaps the surest way 
of becoming devilish." 

But you forget — many will here be ready to exclaim — 
that in spite of extravagances, of perversions of Scripture, 
and of supposed delusions, the word of the preacher very 
frequently comes home to the hearer with a spiritual power 
w T hich man cannot impart, and that in this fact alone we 
have evidence of the general accordance of our proceedings 
w r ith the Divine will. 

ISTo, I neither forget nor deny ; but I discriminate. 
Power gained over others by excited address is com- 
monly mio:ecl. All spiritual forces are not Divine. There 
are " principalities and powers in heavenly places," 
against which we are to fight ; and surely nothing is 
more certain than that a great deal of spiritual — in the 
sense of superhuman — impression is not of the Holy Ghost 
at all. 

The Church of Christ sadly needs insight into some of 



86 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

these things ; for while many cannot distinguish that 
which is merely physical and material from that which 
is spiritual, many more fail, in obedience to apostolic pre- 
cept, to " try " that which is confessedly superhuman, so as 
to distinguish the work of the Spirit of God from the work 
of Satan disguised as an angel of light. More still pro- 
bably fail to separate impressions that are Divine from 
impressions which have been produced either by their own 
imaginations or by men of more or less spiritual power 
who have gained influence over them. 

But it will be said, Is this discriminating course com- 
patible with the fulfilment of the responsibility that God 
has laid upon us in relation to the unconverted ? I think 
it is ; because I believe the responsibility to be a limited 
one, to overpass which is to err. 

My own deep and settled conviction is, that the root of 
nearly all the extravagance and fanaticism which has at 
various times disgraced Christianity, and which still — in 
forms modified by the civilization and public opinion of 
the society within which it appears — is periodically seen 
to spring up afresh, will be found in the erroneous, because 
unscriptural notion that God has made the eternal salva- 
tion of every sinner to depend on his knowledge or ignor- 
ance, his attention or inattention, while in this world, to the 
claims of truth ; that consequently every human being, if 
unconverted, is in the condition of a man drowning at sea, 
or surrounded by flames in a burning house ; that as in 
the supposed cases the primary duty of humanity would 
be, at all hazards, and, if needful, to the neglect of every- 
thing else, to throw the rope or rear the ladder, in default 
or in neglect of which the wretch must inevitably perish ; 
so, in relation to eternity, the happiness or misery of every 
man hangs on the zeal and earnestness with which the 



TEE PREACHER OF TEE GOSPEL. 87 

Church presents, and on the readiness or otherwise with 
which the sinner seizes, the hand stretched out for Ms deli- 
verance. 

I have already noticed how soon this mischievous suppo- 
sition, applied to what was supposed to be a legitimate and 
merciful exercise of power, led to persecution. Charles 
James Fox is reported to have said that " the only 
foundation for toleration is a degree of scepticism, and 
without it there can be none. Tor if a man believes in 
the saving of souls, he must soon think about the means ; 
and if by cutting off one generation he can save many 
future ones from hell-fire, it is his duty to do it." Happily, 
however, such scepticism need not extend beyond the re- 
jection of certain human deductions which have no real 
alliance with living Christianity, and which were alto- 
gether unknown in the apostolic age. 

John Foster but expresses the most reasonable of judg- 
ments when he says that "the ordinary orthodox view 
represents God as acting in a secondary or subordinate 
capacity to the human instruments He employs ; since it 
supposes Him practically to say to His Church, ' If you 
zealously labour for men's salvation, I will save them ; 
otherwise not.' According to this, the final state of a 
large portion of the human race is placed at the disposal of 
a certain order of human beings, who might have effected 
their salvation if they would, — a conclusion which," he 
adds, " I think borders on impiety." 

Well may he ask, " If it he so, — if Christians really 
believe that the immense majority of mankind are doomed 
to suffer, by penal infliction, any form of eternal torture, 
and this mainly through their neglect or indolence, — how 
can they have any calm enj oynient of life ? how can they 
ever be cordiallv cheerful ? If the tremendous doctrine be 



OO ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

true, surely it ought to be continually proclaimed as with 
the blast of a trumpet, with ardent passion, in almost 
every form of terrible illustration."* 

Yet, strange as it must seem to some, no such "passion" 
breathes in the New Testament. There all is calm, hope- 
ful, and trustful. 

That the early believers had relatives and friends living 
unspiritual lives, alienated from, if not opposed to, the 
Gospel of Christ, is certain. Yet not a word can be found 
which would lead us to suppose that they thought their 
unconverted husbands or wives, parents or children, were 
living on the brink of a precipice, from which they might, 
at any moment, be plunged into eternal woe. St. Paul 
indeed, in a burst of patriotic feeling, goes so far as to say 
he could wish himself made an anathema for his brethren 
and kinsmen according to the flesh, who were madly 
abandoning their privileges as God's chosen people; but 
he expresses no such feeling in relation to the Gentiles, 
although he was their chosen apostle ; while of the Jews 
he says, "All Israel shall be saved." 

Nor is it unworthy of notice, that the one and only 
thing referred to as a means of conversion in the case of 
unbelieving relatives is A consistent example, — a godly 
walk and conversation. 

The holy calm of the New Testament, when treating on 
the destinies of men, is to me wonderful. There is no 
excitement in it, — no passion, — no scorching heat; all is 
genial, trustful, and loving. To apostolic men the world 
was doubtless, as it is to us, a great mystery, but it was 
not a painful mystery ; it was to them glorious riches, — 
"the riches of God's glory" (Ephes. iii. 9—19 ; Col. i. 27),— 

* "Life and Correspondence of John Foster," vol. ii., pp. 405 — 416. 



TEE PREACHER OF TEE GOSFEL. 89 

one which, far from bringing over their souls the pro- 
found gloom that so often crushes us, as with a darkness 
that may be felt, was a perennial source of joy and 
strength. 

Is it needful to say how favourable this state of mind 
must have been to the formation of a heavenly character, 
or how unfavourable to that blessed result is habitual 
mental excitement ? Only when we are calm are we, pro- 
perly speaking, trustful. Only as our souls repose on God 
shall we ever seek after and embrace truth for its oivn sake. 
Only as we are able to rely on eternal wisdom and good- 
ness shall we ourselves be either w T ise or good. Only as 
we are at peace in relation to others as well as to ourselves, 
can we afford, like God himself, to wait for the final 
development of designs which involve a wisdom that is 
infinite, and a mercy that " endure th for ever." 

Let us rest, then, in the conviction that God's love to 
sinners is not limited by time; that there is at least a 
possibility of forgiveness in other worlds than this ; that 
the lost here are not necessarily all lost hereafter; that, 
consequently, the eternal happiness or misery of the human 
race hangs on something far better than the zeal or the 
devotion of weak and fallible mortals. 

Doing so, w r e shall be neither less earnest, nor, I trust, 
less successful in our endeavours to extend the knowledge . 
of Christ, whether at home or abroad. But we shall 
proceed on somewhat different principles from those which 
now largely animate us. We shall sow the good seed 
more zealously than ever, but we shall be less restless 
about results. "VVe shall learn not only when to speak, 
but when to be silent ; not only when to work, but when 
to refrain from working ; when, in short, to retire, that God 
may more manifestly come upon the scene. 



90 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

In foreign missions we have, in one instance, under the 
compulsion of Providence, and sorely against our own views 
and wishes, followed the right path, and an abundant 
blessing has followed. But we have not discerned the 
lesson. That instance is the mission to Madagascar. The 
lesson taught us is, that our duty and responsibility end 
when we have once succeeded in planting the good seed in 
any country ; that its further development must be left in 
His hands, who alone can adapt it to the peculiar condition 
and circumstances of the people among whom it has been 
cast. 

Missions carried on upon this principle would require 
comparatively few men ; the money needed for their sup- 
port would be obtained almost without solicitation, and 
certainly without attempting to cast such a duty upon 
children, or upon persons who have not first given them- 
selves to God. The movements of such agents, no longer 
guided by committees in London, would be left to Provi- 
dence as interpreted by the spiritual insight of the labourers 
themselves ; the work would, for each man, be a temporary 
one, and therefore be mostly undertaken by the unmarried ; 
while the Gospel itself, no longer regarded as a European 
thing, or identified with Western civilization, would cease 
to be judged either by our soldiers or sailors, our merchants 
or our planters, and God's hand, rather than man's, would 
be visible to all. 

Preaching to the careless and ungodly in our own 
country, carried on by persons specially devoted to this 
duty and sustained by others in its performance, would 
involve the same principle as evangelization in foreign 
lands. It would be the work of men specially gifted of 
God for its performance ; it would relate mainly to the 
proclamation of the great facts of the Gospel ; it would 






THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. 91 

have little to do with entreaties or appeals to mere feeling ; 
it would keep clear of all low motives — of all regard to 
selfish fears or equally selfish hopes ; it would sow the 
seed, and leave the result to God ; it would seek to further 
no interest beyond that of truth ; it would ask no money, 
seek no power, gather no influence, and desire no spiri- 
tual statistics. The duty of heralding the Gospel once 
performed, all else would be left to Divine providence, 
that so man might be seen and felt to be nothing, and 
God all in all. 

Other modes of spreading truth among the ignorant 
besides preaching — of witnessing for Christ in Christ's 
own spirit, and after Christ's own model — would speedily 
develop themselves. I have my own thoughts as to the 
forms which these would not improbably take ; but it 
would be impossible to state them here. I hope, if God 
permit, one day to lay them before others under the 
title of Unaggressive Christianity in principle and 
practice. If they do no more than furnish material with 
which others, even at a distant day, may build, I shall be 
abundantly satisfied ; for God's ways are " not as our ways, 
nor His thoughts as our thoughts." With Him * one day 
is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 



92 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. 

By the Church I here understand not the one catholic 
and apostolic Church, which consists of "that body of 
men in whom the Spirit of God dwells as the source of 
their excellence; and who exist on earth for the purpose 
of exhibiting the Divine life and the hidden order of 
humanity ; " a body " which has an existence continuous 
through the ages, on the principle of spiritual similarity 
of character ;" but that portion of any given congregation 
who — in whatever way — have been so far affected and 
enlightened by truth as to desire growth in goodness. I 
include under the term all who, notwithstanding many 
imperfections, either of knowledge or character, whether 
communicants or not at the Lord's table, whether 
"fathers," "young men," or mere "babes in Christ," 
are yet so far Christians that they regard the Lord Jesus 
as their Eedeemer, trust in Him for salvation, and more or 
less wish, amid whatever darkness of mind or infirmity of 
purpose, to know and do His will. 

Such persons, whatever may be their degree of Christian 
development, form, I suppose, the majority in modern 
congregations, and need, above all other things, Christian 
culture. They may, I think, fitly be spoken of as " the 
Church," in distinction from the hypocritical, the for- 
malist, the profane, or the grossly ignorant. 



THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. 93 

By the Ministry of the Church I do not mean the 
exclusive ministry of a pastor, however devoted he may be 
to the body over which he presides, but the ministry of the 
Church itself, or rather of such of its members as may be 
judged by their brethren to be qualified to instruct others ; 
a ministry including that of the pastor, but under circum- 
stances and arrangements which place him rather in the 
back than the foreground. 

And this not because he is supposed to be less qualified 
than others to give the precise kind of instruction needed, 
but because his office, his higher attainments, his habit of 
public speech, the respect in which he is held, the associa- 
tions and the prejudices, the modesty and the indolence of 
the people, will all combine, if he is prominent, to silence 
others, and to check, if not absolutely to prevent, the deve- 
lopment of spiritual gifts among them. 

That such a ministry prevailed in the apostolic churches 
will scarcely be disputed. The writer of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews evidently refers to it when he bids those he 
addresses not to forsake the assembling themselves toge- 
ther, as the manner of some is, but to exhort one another, 
and the more as they see the day (of the Lord) approaching 
(Heb. x. 25). 

The abuses that sprang up in the Corinthian church, and 
the warning of James, — "My brethren, be not many 
masters " {lit, teachers), also indicate not only the existence 
of this mode of mutual instruction, but its official regula- 
tion by apostolic wisdom. To pretend that it was put 
down because of the irregularities to which, in one instance 
at least, it gave rise, would be about as wise as to conclude 
that, for similar reasons, the observance of the Lord's 
Supper ceased and determined. 

That elders were appointed in every city is equally clear 



94 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

from the sacred record; that these men were specially 
endowed with peculiar insight into truth, fitting them 
to be representatives of the apostles, is at least 
probable, not only from the exhortations given to Timothy 
and Titus (2 Tim. i. 6 ; Titus ii. 15), but also from the fact 
that the brethren are commanded to be in a sort of sub- 
jection to them (Heb. xiii. 7, 17.) 

Open ministry and a settled pastorate in those days 
evidently went on together, as, indeed, they had done 
under the Jewish dispensation, in the worship of the 
synagogue. But there is nothing whatever to indi- 
cate that these settled pastors spent their strength in 
preparing sermons for mixed congregations, or that they 
ever attempted to fulfil obligations so conflicting and so 
inconsistent with each other as are those which devolve upon 
the modern minister. It was enough for them to guide the 
flock wisely, to be examples of faith and purity, and to 
build up those committed to their care in the knowledge 
and love of the Eedeemer. 

I am quite aware that I shall here be met at the outset by 
the taunt that this demand for open ministry is by no means 
a new one ; that it has again and again been tried and found 
wanting ; that its fruits are to be seen in the narrowness 
and bitterness of a sect, distinguished from all others by 
its intolerance and spiritual pride. 

Without giving any opinion as to the extent to which 
this accusation may fairly be sustained, I beg to remark in 
reply, that, so far as I am aware, the open ministry of 
which I speak has never been tried since the clays of the 
apostles. 

Men have, indeed, at various times, endeavoured to 
establish something which they have called an open 
ministry, but this " new wine " has always been put into 



THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. 95 

the " old bottles/' and, as a natural consequence, has soon 
come to grief. 

The open ministry, which is apostolic in character, can 
never be made to work in any fellowship which is not in 
other respects primitive and apostolic. But no church is 
so which bases itself on a systematic theology, — which 
brings its discipline to bear on errors in dogma, or which 
regards the Holy Spirit as given for the development of 
doctrine rather than for the ennobling of character. Such 
churches, however simple in their organization, or however 
reformed in other particulars, are essentially post-apos- 
tolic, if not mediaeval. 

On such fellowship it is impossible to graft successfully 
an open ministry worthy of the name ; for free teaching 
and fettered thought are in all respects incongruous. Open 
speech and an open heart must go together. 

Another error, equal in magnitude, and alone sufficient 
to account for failure in the attempts referred to, has been 
the depreciation and rejection, not only of any fixed 
educated ministry whatever, but the discouragement of all 
previous preparation by those who do speak, founded on 
the notion that such persons, if called to instruct at all, are 
directly moved and enabled to do so by the Holy Spirit. 
Tyranny or anarchy, in this case, sooner or later, inevitably 
follows. Admit the claim, and a submission quite as 
abject as that demanded by Eome is but a reasonable ser- 
vice. Deny it, and it becomes impossible to endure the 
folly which even the best of men sometimes fall into, if 
they imagine themselves to be teaching by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, when they are really speaking only out of the 
emptiness of their own minds. 

But does it thence follow, if this dream of semi-in- 
Bpiration be abandoned, and intelligent Christians are 



96. ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY, 

encouraged by their brethren to speak out of the fulness 
of their hearts, — immediately moved only by the force of 
convictions which have been formed by long and patient 
study of Scripture, but inwardly sustained by that great 
Teacher who has given them strength and wisdom through 
the varied experiences of a life of humble piety, — that this, 
too, must be unprofitable ? Far from it. Teaching of 
this kind, wherever it can be had, is of priceless value. 

I am not, under the designation of open ministry, 
speaking of what is commonly called lay preaching. 
This is a work which very few private Christians are fitted 
to undertake, and which fewer still desire. As a rule, 
nothing can be less adapted to a delicate mind, — nothing 
more alien to the position or powers of a sensitive man, — 
nothing more offensive to his taste, than to be borne with 
by a mixed congregation as a sort of second-hand orator. 
This is not what we want, nor is this the contradiction to 
the flesh which Christ calls upon His children to endure. 

Unhappily, what we really need is not wanted by the 
Church. The model layman of our own day is the man 
who, early in attendance, is regularly to be seen in his 
pew, attentive to strangers, interested in the prosperity of 
the church or chapel to which he belongs, hospitable to 
his minister, liberal in his charities, and of good repute in 
the world. As a natural consequence, such men abound. 
Beyond this we do not seem able to get. And why? 
Simply because we do not desire anything better. 

In the meantime piety dwindles, truth stagnates, and 
stagnation breeds spiritual malaria, sometimes diffusing 
active and fatal poisons, more frequently lowering vitality 
without endangering life. Spiritual gifts either disappear 
or remain undeveloped. Disturbance of the accustomed 
course, however healthful, is the great object of dread. 



TEE MINISTRY OF TEE CEURCE. 97 

All alike fear innovation, and agree to offer passive if 
not active resistance to every form of thought, whether true 
or false, which seems likely to occasion trouble. 

I repeat, — an open ministry, if it is to work at all, must 
be anti-dogmatic ; must keep within its own sphere ; must 
relate mainly, if not exclusively, to that which is moral 
and spiritual ; it must not interfere with the proper work 
either of the preacher of the Gospel or of the recognized 
pastor ; it must aim neither at the development of doctrine 
nor at the conversion of the world; its one object and end 
must be the perfecting of the Church in knowledge and in 
love. 

Only as it is of this character will it resemble the 
ministry of early communities, founded and guided by 
inspired apostles; for in these we invariably find union 
depending, not on common beliefs, but on a common love 
to a person — the Lord Jesus Christ. This, says Dr. 
Chalmers, " appears historically to have been the original 
bond of the Christian Church. Whoever was willing to 
receive Christ as his master, to join His people, and to 
walk according to their rules, was admitted to the Chris- 
tian society. We Jcnmv that in the earliest church there 
existed the strangest varieties of belief; but the point to 
observe is, that union and belief, so far as it existed, was 
the result of belonging to the society rather than a previous 
condition required for belonging to it." Common sense 
surely teaches that if we are to copy the first churches in 
one particular, we must copy them, not, indeed, in every 
detail, but in all leading principles. We must grasp their 
idea as a whole, or we shall never be able to understand the 
parts of which it is composed. Merely to exchange the 
calm thought of an instructed mind, however dull or dry 
the speaker, for the exaggerated utterances sometimes of 

H 



98 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

the ignorant, and sometimes of the weak and enthusiastic, 
would be a poor exchange indeed. 

The great and significant fact, that in the apostolic- 
churches we find open teaching and open thought side by 
side, has recently been brought out and established histori- 
cally, and without reference to any of our modern opinions, 
by Mr. Donaldson, in his tf Critical History of Chris- 
tian Literature and Doctrine," the first volume of which 
has just been published. 

" In the case of the apostles," he says, — and the same 
thing is true of their immediate successors, — " everything 
was made subsidiary to moral and spiritual improvement. 
The idea of happiness, and every other such notion, pass 
entirely out of sight in their anxious longing for complete 
holiness, for living, as they called it, for Him who was The 
Life. ... In theology there is not the slightest 
attempt to systematize ; there is the most absolute belief of 
certain great truths; there is a determined, unwavering 
confidence in Christ as the author and finisher of their 
faith. But there is not the remotest desire to unravel 
the puzzles which afterwards beset the theological world. 
There is in their childlike faith an utter unconsciousness 
of them. 

" Thus they speak of Christ invariably as one individual 
being. They knew He was the Son of God. They knew 
He was real man. But it was the Son of God that became 
man, just as the child and the grown-up man are the same 
being. How this took place, — whether He had two 
natures or Wills, — in what metaphysical relation He stood 
to the God and Father of all, — these, and many such ques- 
tions, never occupied their minds. 

" So, again, in regard to Christ's death. They knew that 
Christ did die to take away their sins and to bring them to 



TEE MINISTRY OF TEE CEURGE. 99 

God. They knew that He, in His death, did conquer death. 
They knew that He had stripped the principalities and 
powers of the air of their dominion ; but how His death 
could effect such a grand revolution in the souls of men, 
and in the relations of the universe to man, this was a 
question which did not occupy their minds. And, indeed, 
it might be easy to show that they had a strong disincli- 
nation to any such speculations/' 

Not till the ministry of the Church, as distinguished 
from, although including, that of the pastor, can be revived 
on these principles, will it ever work so as to promote 
the great end for which it was ordained. As matters 
stand, it is absurd to say that it has ever been tried and 
has failed. 

Bearing these preliminary remarks in mind, the reader 
will now, I hope, be able to understand what I mean in 
saying that the Church of this generation needs, for its 
true spiritual revival, four things : — 

(1) The separation from its worship and teaching of the 
ignorant and unconverted. 

(2) The re-establishment in spirit, and as far as prac- 
ticable, of the Apostolic Pastorate. 

(3) A wider and truer communion of all believers. 

(4) An open ministry, for the mutual instruction, train- 
ing, and education of the Church. 

Let us notice each of these particulars in turn. 

In relation to the first, so far at least as change bears 
on the spiritual interests of the thoughtless and ungodly, 
I have already spoken at length. But it would be a great 
mistake to suppose that the mischief which is involved 
in the mixing up of divers characters in public worship 
ends with the injury it inflicts on the ungodly. Far from 



100 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

it. Public teaching loses, for all of us, much of its power 
from that absence of singleness of purpose and definiteness 
of aim which necessarily characterizes addresses intended 
to act at the same time on different classes. Hence it 
not unfrequently happens that exhortations which are 
addressed to persons in diametrically opposite states of 
mind are, in fact, unadapted to either. 

For the most part, I suppose the leading thought of an 
earnest minister is the conversion of the careless hearer; 
since both pulpit address and textual discourse have been 
introduced mainly with that end. Subordinate to this 
.primary view, and next in importance, the development of 
religious feeling in those who have been more or less 
impressed, and the instruction of the children of religious 
families, is probably kept in view, — an object which again 
implies, as a rule, the merest elementary teaching. The 
perfecting of the believer — the advancement of the renewed 
soul in Divine knowledge — instruction in the deep things 
of God — a going on from what St. Paul calls laying the 
foundation, to higher truth, however much desired by a 
godly pastor, is impossible under the conditions ; for I 
cannot admit that the highly Calvinistic teaching which 
consists largely of merely human inferences, sustained by 
the most fanciful interpretations of Scripture, is in any 
sense worthy of being called "deep teaching." 

But here, again, I would rather proceed on the opinion 
of others than on my own judgment. 

" We believe," says a living and popular writer, who has 
dealt with no little success with the subject of practical 
religion, " that the office of the ministry being twofold — to 
rouse consciences and to guide them, — we have, for a long 
time past in the National Church (and probably it is the 
same with the sects), contented ourselves with rousing, 



THE MINISTRY OF TEE CHURCH. 101 

while we have done scarcely anything to guide them. 
The one object of all our teaching, whether in formal 
sermons or in books, has been to make impressions, not to 
give them a right direction when made. 

"An eminent prelate, who, it may be assumed, is well 
acquainted with the kind of preaching prevalent among 
the several theological schools in his own church, after 
speaking, in a recent charge to his clergy, of the founda- 
tion of character being well and truly laid by the teaching 
of the Christian faith, proceeds to ask, ' But where is the 
superstructure ? where is the building up ? who supplies 
the strong meat after the milk ? who disciplines and 
guides the awakened conscience ? who enters into the 
detail of Christian duty ? who teaches to observe all 
things which the Lord Jesus has commanded ? ' "* 

In short, for this is the substance of the complaint, the 
practice of the Church is, generally speaking, directly the 
reverse of the rule laid down by the Lord. He says, " To 
him that hath shall be given." We say, " Let us give to 
him that hath not." jSTor can it be otherwise, so long as 
we continue to blend in one service what we call the 
preaching of the Gospel to the careless and ungodly with 
the education and trainino; of the believer. 

I have next to show what I mean by saying that we 
need the revival of the Apostolic Pastoeate. 

For this office, something more and something different 
from a preacher, however able, is required. "What we really 
want in a pastor is " a man brought nearer them other men 
are at once to man and to God" The human heart, says a 
recent writer, "desires one who is greater, purer, kinder, 

* Quoted from the Inaugural Address already referred to, 



102 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

freer than itself, — one standing aloof from its conscious 
falseness, its self-confessed littleness. It must be a life 
having something sacrificial in it, — something which will 
ofttimes compel the man to put a space between his own 
soul and the souls upon which his desires and prayers are 
set ; he must free himself from every disturbing element, 
and be content to depart from his brethren in many things 
and at many seasons, so that he may abide with them 
for ever in a truer, deeper fellowship than any which is 
founded upon the conditions of an earthly amity. Un- 
secularity is the strength and glory of the Christian priest- 
hood ; the agency they deal with is one which, like that of 
some great mechanic force, must work apart from that on 
which it is brought to bear; its power is lost in con- 
formity ; it lives in transformation — in renewal ; it is con- 
tent to die in its own individual hopes and interests, so 
that, falling within the wide field of humanity, it may, in 
dying, bring forth much fruit." * 

Such a man, relieved from the necessity of making 
sermons without end, and freed from all undue pressure of 
other obligations, whether philanthropic or religious, would 
have time, and would therefore be expected to live much in 
quiet meditation ; to cultivate the " meekness of wisdom," 
rather than brilliancy of talent ; to he, as well as to teach, 
what the Christian life requires of us all. 

Chosen, as in this case he would be, not for his 
eloquence, his zeal, or his learning, so much as for his 
sanctified o-ood sense, his gentleness of character, his 
sweetness of disposition, his quick sympathy, his holiness 
of life, and his moral power over others, he would move 
among his people with the tenderness and love of the 

* " The Two Friends," by the author of " The Patience of Hope." 



TEE MINISTRY OF THE CEVRCE. 



103 



nurse who cherisheth her children, and would enter in no 
slight degree into the experience of that great apostle who 
could say to his converts, " I travail in birth again until 
Christ be formed in you." 

But how is it possible for the modern minister to do this, 
trained as he is, chosen as he is, imagining as he does that 
all ministry belongs exclusively to himself; that however 
young or however inexperienced he may be, he stands in 
the pulpit " monarch of all he surveys," — the world and the 
Church alike depending on him, and him alone, for warn- 
ing, exhortation, and instruction, as well as for leadership 
and guidance in all the varied forms of Christian effort ? 

Perhaps it is not too much to say that scarcely any posi- 
tion can be found which is so manifestly a false one as 
that of the modern minister. " Is he the object of admira- 
tion?" says Dr. Caird ; "then a general atmosphere of de- 
ference surrounds him, very pleasant to a weak mind, not 
unpleasant to a strong one." Do crowds hang on his lips ? 
— "what an ordeal is this for a weak head and a vain 
heart to go through ! There is inherent weakness in such 
a ministry, amid the superficial flutter of success."* 

But reverse the picture. Is he unpopular ? — how trying 
is his position ! What scorn, what humiliation has he 
frequently to endure ! How often is he by poverty and 
the claims of a young family chained to his post, even as a 
martyr is chained to the stake ! How greatly would such 
a man be cheered and strengthened if others were by his 
side to help and to sustain him ; if those whom he taught 
were looking for instruction rather than for excitement, for 
sense rather than for sound, for learning and piety rather 
than for eloquence, for truth rather than for the gratification 
of a tickled ear ! 

* Sermon at the ordination of Mr. Burns, of Glasgow. 



104 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

But this is not all. A ministry of the Church, 
regulated, would do more than anything else towards the 
removal of one of the greatest moral dangers involved in 
the obligation to act as the sole recognized public teacher 
of a religious body, viz., that which arises when doubts 
come over the mind as to the exact truthfulness of any- 
thing hitherto believed, or the rightfulness of any parti- 
cular course which has been long followed. Tor then 
action might he suspended until the doubt was solved. The 
absence of a provision for this end demoralizes the existing 
ministry to an extent which it is not easy to calculate. 

I am not slandering any one in thus speaking, nor am I 
talking at random. More than forty years ago the late 
John Foster thus wrote : — " A number not large, but of 
great piety and intelligence, of ministers within my ac- 
quaintance have been disbelievers of the doctrine of eternal 
punishment ; at the same time, not feeling themselves impe- 
ratively called upon to make a public disavowal, they con- 
tent themselves with employing, in their ministrations, 
strong general terms in denouncing the doom of impeni- 
tent sinners." How widely this system of reserve has since 
spread may be gathered from a recent avowal in one of our 
orthodox magazines, that " in our time there is much reserve 
and dissimulation." * * * " All who know religious 
society," says the writer, " know that the people are greatly 
deluded as to the real opinions of their ministers. There is 
a fear of the Jews, which leads men to hide their profound 
convictions, and temporize with the multitude." 

But what does God think of this course ? " He," as has 
been well said, "insists upon having a correspondence" 
between our convictions and our speech, quite as per- 
emptorily as He does upon a like correspondence between 
our faith and our conduct ; and if we teach the thing we 



THE MINISTRY OF TEE CHURCH. 



105 



more than half believe to be untrue, "He proceeds to 
abolish the discord by letting down our thought to the level 
of our speech" just as under similar conditions He often 
reduces a man's ideal to the level of his life. 

Never was the loss that is sustained by the Church at 
large from the absence of any available channel through 
which new forms of thought might be brought under 
notice, and handled in a devout spirit, more felt than at 
the present moment. We do not want a court of decision, 
— that would be a great evil, — but we do want a tribunal, 
not clerical, before which disputed points might be exa- 
mined and discussed in a spirit of love, — if needful, for 
years, judgment being kept in abeyance until the truth 
could be satisfactorily ascertained. Churches ought, in 
some degree at least, to supply this great need. 

Next to an Apostolic Pastorate, A wider and truer 
communion of all believers is our greatest want. 

If I read the Divine record ' aright, the first duty of a 
man, when he is made by the grace of God — whatever may 
have been the instrumentality — a " new creature in Christ 
Jesus," is, to study diligently the written Word, in order 
to see what God would have him to become ; to learn how 
he may best make his "calling and election sure;" how, 
with "fear and trembling," he may most speedily and 
effectually "work out his salvation" from sin and sinful 
habits. 

His next duty is to let his " light so shine before men,* 
that they, seeing his " good works, may glorify his Father 
who is in heaven." This light, in proportion as it gains 
fresh power from the study of Scripture, and the indwelling 
of the Spirit, is to " shine more and moi^e unto the perfect 
day." 



106 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

If the Christian be the head of a family, it is emphatic- 
ally to shine there. He is to " walk before his household 
with a perfect heart ;" to rule it wisely and well ; to " com- 
mand his children after him." 

In business the light is to he visible to all men. In 
society it is to illuminate the social circle, — " all who are 
in the house." In the world at large it is to be manifested 
by a gravity, a thoughtful seriousness, a sweetness of 
temper, and a profitableness of demeanour, unusual and 
therefore noticeable. 

But in order to be what God wills we should become, 
communion with other Christians is, if not essential, highly 
needful. Our spiritual life is to be quickened and strength- 
ened by intercourse with those who are better and stronger 
than ourselves, while we in turn are to render to fellow- 
Christians, and especially to the young and inexperienced, 
all that help, both material and moral, which is implied 
in the apostolic command, "Bear ye one another's bur- 
dens." From the context the moral weaknesses of others 
would seem to be the burdens chiefly referred to by the 
Apostle. 

True Christian communion is one of the most pressing 
wants of the human spirit. We all need to be refreshed 
and enriched by others — to be quickened by something 
that is not within ourselves. Heart must act on heart, 
and life on life. The religious poor especially need spi- 
ritual sympathy to make up for the want of that ordinary 
intercourse with educated Christians which is hindered by 
the artificial distinctions of civilized life. In a true 
Church-life alone can this be had ; for, as it has been truly 
observed, "the Christian belongs to a kingdom in which 
there is nothing unrelated. There no man liveth and no 
man dieth to himself." 



TEE MINISTRY OF TEE CEURCE. 107 

How this communion can, in a state of society like our 
own, become a reality — a living tiling — it is hard indeed 
to say ; to imagine that it is as yet realized to any extent, 
either among Churchmen or Dissenters, is simply to de- 
ceive ourselves ; to attempt to base it on denominational 
preferences, on common opinions, or on religious interests, 
is absurd ; to regard it as consisting in the recital of 
spiritual experiences, as involving a pecuniary subscrip- 
tion to some good object, or as developing itself under 
regulations of a more or less inquisitorial kind, is to 
mistake altogether its true character. A common and 
heartfelt love to the living Christ, rising above all sectarian 
narrowness, — a deep and earnest interest in "the Book" 
which reveals His will, — a certain amount of natural 
affinity in disposition, — some opportunity of intercourse, — 
more or less community of taste and feeling, — all these 
things seem necessary to anything like true communion, 
the most distant approach to which, as a result of Church 
fellowship, is at present very rare, and perhaps only exists 
in individual cases, where casual acquaintance has ripened 
into friendship, and a confidence been generated which has 
opened two hearts at once. 

The nearest approximation to Church communion will 
probably be found in certain limited Nonconformist 
fellowships, where the members are very much of the same 
rank in life, about equal in education, and united by 
common objects of interest, leading to a not infrequent 
social intercourse. But amons; these, as a rule, narrowness 
of thought and feeling reigns supreme ; and it may well be 
questioned whether, in these cases, the intensification of 
denominational interests and sectarian differences does not 
more than counterbalance any good which may arise out 
of them. Tea-drinkings, speeches, and innocent gossip are 



108 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

all very well in their place, and not without their use ; far 
better, indeed, than that meddling with other men's matters 
by "busybodies" — that prying into other people's affairs 
which marks some of these small churches ; but whether 
good or evil, these things are not spiritual helps, — there is 
nothing elevating about them, and they are at best but a 
mockery of true communion. 

Alas ! a blight seems to rest on almost every attempt we 
make to realize the living and the true. How far a more 
apostolic pastorate, and a ministry of the Church taking 
the form of mutual instruction, and directed to the 
ennobling of character rather than to the elucidation of 
doctrine, might tend to bring about any change for the 
better, experience alone can teach. 

For public worship, as conducted among ourselves, — for 
attendance at church or chapel, — for religious establish- 
ments, — for denominational fellowships, — for what is called 
" sitting under a stated ministry," no warrant, as I believe, 
can be discovered in Scripture. Still less will it be found 
possible to find there any justification for calling these 
places of worship (as is perpetually done both in praise and 
prayer) houses of God, tabernacles of the Most High, 
temples, and sanctuaries ; or for using language regarding 
them appropriate only on the theory that God peculiarly 
manifests Himself in a church or chapel, and that such a 
building is really and truly Zion, " the hill of the Lord," 
"the holy place." On what other supposition can a Chris- 
tian, when absent from these assemblies, say, "My soul 
thirsteth for God. When shall I come and appear before 
Godl" "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and 
causest to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Tiiy 
courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy 



THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH, 109 

house, even of Thy lioly temple " ? It may be said that these 
terms do not mean anything more than the recognition of 
the fact that " where two or three " meet together in the 
name of Christ, there He is to bless ; but if it be so, then the 
greater the pity they should be allowed to mislead so many, 
as they certainly do. 

Yet with all theii defects, whether established or 
voluntary, bond or free, these existing institutions are, 
I doubt not, doing Christ's work, though imperfectly 
and feebly. In my view of things, all of tliem — though 
widely differing in character and in value — stand essen- 
tially on the same foundation. They are expedients for the 
sustentation and spread of religion, instituted with the best 
intentions, and existing, as I have already said, not with- 
out evidence of a Divine blessing on all who have therein 
laboured honestly for God; but alike proceeding on the 
unscriptural assumption that the Lord has called His 
Church to the task of evangelizing the world ; that Chris- 
tianity is intended, by this agency, one day to overcome all 
resistance, and to triumph gloriously ; that Christian 
civilization and the spread of religiousness, while not 
religion, is nevertheless one main object of the Eedeemer's 
advent ; and that the Gospel itself is sent down from heaven 
to adorn and beautify the world quite as much as to take 
out of it a small and peculiar people. 

That Divine truth is both intended and adapted to 
improve many whom it fails to regenerate ; that it actually 
does this, and that in so doing it elevates society as a whole, 
is beyond question. Nor ought we for a moment either to 
undervalue these secondary influences, or to disparage 
their promoters. He that is not against us is for us, 
saith the Lord. Let those, then, who cannot attain to 
a higher conception of Christianity than that which now 



HO ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

prevails, by all means go on with their work, and do all 
they can to benefit and bless their neighbours by church 
and chapel building, by public worship, and by such other 
national or voluntary efforts as may to them seem most 
likely to secure the end they have in view. 

But let them not imagine that those who adopt other 
views, and who strive rather after the Christian perfection 
of the few than the general improvement of the many, 
therefore do nothing for society at large. This is not the 
fact ; for it is unquestionable that all the secondary influences 
of Christianity depend for their force much more on the 
influence of individual example than either on religious rites 
or public teaching. The performance of rites may be, 
and frequently is, but a cloak to hypocrisy. Teaching, 
however good, too generally resembles the action of the 
sun on desert plains, it falls on unpropitious soil. But the 
influence of example, if it acts at all, is not only in itself 
quickening and life-giving, it suggests the source from 
whence all that is good proceeds. 

Supposing, then — although this is by no means a legitimate 
supposition, — that " the ministry of the Church " should 
be altogether unaccompanied by any direct action on those 
that are without, it would still remain true that indirect 
influences of the most powerful kind would be continually 
going forth on all around, since we ever live under the 
necessity to become ourselves, and to make others, better 
or worse, accordingly as we individually elevate or depress 
the standard of public opinion. But this is a very different 
thing from cherishing the notion that such general im- 
provement is to be produced by the spread of a religious- 
ness which is not religion, or by dreams that the earth 
can ever be regenerated without absolute submission to its 
rightful Lord. 



TEE MINISTRY OF TEE CEUHCE. HI 

Believing that all our existing Christian institutions rest 
more or less on this false basis, I cannot but conclude that 
they will one day utterly break down. The things that are 
will not always be. " Every plant that the heavenly 
Father hath not planted will be rooted up " (Matt. xv. 13). 
But it is not for man to anticipate Divine decisions. The 
Lord Jesus well knew that the end of the Jewish dispensa- 
tion was determined ; but He did nothing to overthrow it. 
The disciples, after His departure, were not ignorant that its 
priesthood had been superseded by the great High Priest 
who had passed into the heavens ; that its sacrifices had 
found their signification in the one offering made once for 
all; that the blood of Christ, who through the eternal 
Spirit had presented Himself without spot to God, could 
alone purge the conscience; yet, under Divine guidance, 
they refrained from uttering a word that was likely to bring 
Jewish ordinances into contempt ; they still frequented the 
temple, and shared in all the services of the old economy ; 
and it was not till most of them had passed away from 
earth that God swept off the whole, and rendered con- 
formity no longer possible. Such must be our course if 
we would imitate inspired example, and in our researches 
after truth, as well as in our grasp and treatment of it 
when found, walk humbly before God and tenderly before 
men. 

It is not improbable that we are ourselves living in a 
transition period, in some respects resembling that in which 
the lot of the apostles was cast. We seem to be approaching, 
if not the close of a dispensation, at least the termination 
of a great era, during which evil and good have strangely 
intermingled in the Church ; intermingled, not as they do 
in everything human, not as they did in the apostolic 
churches, not as they ever will do while man is frail 



112 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

an,d perverse, but in the structure of the Church itself, — 
in its teachings, in its organization, in its life; inter- 
mingling so cunningly that it is often difficult to dis- 
cern the true from the false, the children of light from 
the children of darkness ; intermingling in such fashion as 
to darken truth, to destroy witness, and to deprave the 
very bride of Christ. 

This cannot last for ever. The voice of prophecy and 
the ringer of Providence seem to combine in showing that 
the time of the end is near. In what form that end will 
approach, by what events it will be heralded, what precise 
changes it will effect, are as yet hidden in great measure 
from mortal eye. But whether the coming time should 
prove immediately disastrous or encouraging, this at least 
is certain, it will be progress in the right direction, since 
in any case it will hasten the coming of the Lord, and end 
in the universal triumph of His cause. 

The only question for us is, — How is this future to be 
met ? What are we to do in order to pioneer its 
approach? To this there can be but one answer. We 
must, as far as possible, and as speedily, remove all hin- 
drances out of the way, — everything that is felt to be an 
impediment to growth in grace ; a removal to be effected 
only according to the pattern showed us by the Lord, — viz., 
by planting underneath that which is ready to vanish away, 
something more in accordance with the Divine will, and 
better adapted to sustain and invigorate the spiritual life. 
If we do this, the shock of change will be broken, and 
nothing will perish except that which has become useless or 
injurious. 

In proceeding in this direction our first inquiry must be, 
What has God ordained ? All other things will come 
right if we can but ascertain that, and if we are but willing 



THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. Ho 

to follow the appointed path. Surely we have our model, 
if anywhere, in the Primitive Church — established, as it 
was, by inspired men, and declared to be "the body of 
Christ," the " communion of saints;' the " light of the 
world," the witness-bearing society, distinguished chiefly 
by its meekness and patience, its purity and brotherly 
love. Here we come, I imagine, as near to the beau ideal of 
the Church in all ages as we are likely to do, and have 
little more to learn as to its teaching and government than 
is presented to us in Scripture. 

Very insignificant may such a position seem to men 
now; for, stripped of apostolic guidance, and of miraculous 
gifts, the earliest Christian communities present little that 
is attractive to modern eyes. Very quiet and retired they 
are; singularly loose from the world and its interests; 
affording — so, at least, they appear to us — little scope for 
any form of human ambition, although not wanting in 
moral power over those who come within their range. 

What modern religious society would be, if constituted 
after this pattern, may be imagined, but can scarcely be 
realized. The ready hand, the liberal heart, the loving dis- 
position, would certainly not seek in vain for opportunities 
of doing good. But benevolence would be more individual 
than it is now. Each man for himself would ask of God 
more earnestly than he does at present, for Ms own precise 
work in the world, and would try to do that as simply and 
as disinterestedly as he could. He might unite with others 
in some common work of beneficence, but it would be as 
silently as possible. 

Public meetino's to excite the feelings of a mixed crowd, 
and to draw forth their money, would be unknown. Plat- 
form speeches, having no higher end in view than this, would 
be regarded as an abomination. "Keports" of good supposed 

I 



114 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

to be done would be odious. Machinery in all spiritual 
work would be dispensed with to the utmost possible extent. 
As a rule, each man would be his own almoner, and instead 
of seeking to do good with the money of others, would shrink 
from its appropriation. 

Above all, and this would regulate action, Christian men 
would learn to rest in God ; to be satisfied with the Divine 
government of the world, whether success or failure attended 
their endeavours to do good in it ; and perchance they might 
then be preserved from imagining that their presentation of 
the Gospel, whether from the Pulpit or the Press, must of 
necessity be so clear and convincing that neglect of the 
message is as likely to be fatal as if it had been preached 
by an Apostle or warranted by miracle. They might then 
at length learn to realize a truth that few now care to re- 
member, viz., that human speech for God, however earnest 
and affectionate, is not necessarily accompanied by Divine 
power, or by the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven ; that 
the Lord alone has access to the hearts of men, and that 
what does not touch the spirit is but as the clanging of 
brass, or the sounding of a cymbal. 



115 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 

The English are a practical people — perhaps too much so, 
— inasmuch as they commonly estimate the value of any 
suggestion that may be offered to them, rather by its appa- 
rent immediate practicability and usefulness, than by its 
abstract wisdom or truth. This is not right ; but since the 
habit in question is a recognized national characteristic, it 
is necessary that all who seek to guide public opinion should 
so far bow to it as to show at least the possibility of carry- 
ing into effect that which they recommend. 

However true, therefore, in the abstract may be the 
observations which I have thought it right to make in rela- 
tion to the ministry of the Church, I am fully conscious that 
little attention will be paid to them unless it can be shown 
that such a ministry would work, supposing only there 
existed amongst us a conviction of its value, and a willing- 
ness to put it to the test. 

Those who doubt will probably refuse to go farther 
until the following questions are answered: — 

(1) What Order of Worship would be essential to the 
carrying out of a regulated open ministry ? 

(2) In what way, or by what test, would it be possible to 
separate the godly from the ungodly in public worship of 
any kind 1 



116 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

(3) What reason is there to suppose that educated persons 
conld be induced to take part in public teaching, or that, 
without a special theological training, laymen would be 
qualified to do so ? 

(4) What provision, in the absence of ordinary sermons, 
could be made for the Christian instruction of our children ? 

I will endeavour to answer these questions seriatim. 

The Order of Worship need not, I imagine, be very 
different from that which obtains at a modern Communion 
Service. It would be marked by a similar quietness and 
oneness of feeling, by the absence of all exciting discourse, 
by a partial intermingling of silent prayer, and by a deeper 
reverence of demeanour than is ordinarily observed. These 
would, in all probability, be its chief characteristics. 

As the instruction of the community would be sought, 
not, as now, in a sustained public discourse from an ap- 
pointed preacher ; not by anything at all in the form of an ora- 
tion ; but by such simple and colloquial teaching, from one 
or more, as might seem best adapted to meet practical wants, 
to guide conscience, to elucidate the meaning of Scripture, 
and to direct hearers in their own private and personal 
study of the Word of God, a gallery or platform, rather than 
a pulpit, would be required. 

The minister, or presiding elder, would of course be re- 
garded as generally responsible for the orderly conduct of the 
meeting, although, whether separated altogether from secular 
occupations and wholly sustained for the service of the 
Church or not, he would, in no case where it could be 
avoided, exclusively assume the entire instruction of the 
assembly. Others — one or more, as gifts might be developed 
and recognized in the body — would be expected to be by his 
Bide and to take their share, both in the worship and teaching 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 1X7 

of the Church. I do not know that any other change would 
be needful in what is termed the Order of Worship. 

On the second question — the separating of classes — con- 
science must be left to do its own work. Any attempt on 
the part of man to distinguish between believers and un- 
believers, between the converted and the unconverted, is; I 
think, to be earnestly deprecated. The true, perhaps the 
only effectual guard against the intrusion of the ungodly 
into spiritual services of any kind, is the creation of an atmo- 
sphere too pure to be enjoyed by those who have no taste 
for the beauties of holiness. This seems to have been the 
only valid protection of the Christian community in apos- 
tolic times. Of irreligious, heretical, or inconsistent persons 
— " antichrists" — it is simply said, " They went out from us 
(not driven out) because they were not of us " (1 John ii. 19). 

That beyond this, or rather for the checking of sinful 
habits in those who were really one with them, there was 
"a rod" for flagrant offenders is plain enough (1 Cor. iv. 
21) ; but since it was exclusively apostolic, and implied the 
exercise of miraculous power (1 Cor. v. 5 ; xi. 30), it neces- 
sarily passed away with those who alone could wield it. 
Whatever might be the case in apostolic days, however, 
it is certain that in our own the surest way to keep 
worship pure would be to abstract therefrom whatever is 
attractive to the unrenewed mind as such ; to exclude from 
it everything that irreligious persons, while irreligious, are 
likely either to estimate or to relish ; to abstain from all 
that does not require a spiritual faculty to understand and 
appreciate. 

Let exciting oratory and imposing ritualism disappear 
from public worship ; let appeals and addresses be no longer 
delivered, which take for granted that a large portion of the 



118 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

congregation consists of persons who are present only as 
attendants on what is called, but very improperly, the means 
of grace; let instrumental music be discouraged, and that 
which is vocal made thoroughly subservient to the praise of 
God ; let buildings, while neat and clean, be unadorned ; 
let all that is now intended to attract the eye, to regale the 
ear, to gratify taste, or to produce mere intellectual satisfac- 
tion, be omitted ; let teaching proceed on the Lord's own 
principle, that " to him that hath shall be given," whether 
the amount of truth possessed be little or much ; let it 
always presuppose in the hearer an intelligent, acquaint- 
ance with Holy Scripture, and more or less of capacity for 
its spiritual appreciation ; above all, let believers cease to 
encourage the notion that attendance at church or chapel is, 
if not religion itself, at least the nearest approach to it that 
an unconverted man can make, and there would be little 
fear that unsuitable persons would attempt to unite in a 
communion which could have no charm for them, or that 
they would desire to mingle in a fellowship, the very nature 
of which they would, to a great extent, be incapable of ap- 
preciating. Hypocrites under any circumstances would 
occasionally be found : this is unavoidable ; there was one 
among the twelve. 

Ignorant, careless, and profane persons might, indeed, 
enter the assembly, nor should they, even if it were possi- 
ble, be formally excluded. God may have a message either 
for a persecutor or a blasphemer. " If, therefore, the whole 
Church be come together into one place," and men " come 
in that are unteachable or unbelieving," let us hope that 
such, as of old, may be " convinced of all and judged of all," 
and thus, as the secrets of their hearts are " made manifest," 
be led to " worship God, and confess that He is in us of a 
truth" (1 Cor. xiv. 24). For true service, like the prophecy 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 119 

or the tongues of early times, while edifying the believer, is 
" for a sign to them that believe not." But surely this is a 
very different thing from inviting such to our assemblies, or 
adapting our services to their supposed tastes or need. 

But some will say — Can this reasoning be made to apply 
to the Communion of the Supper, which it is supposed 
would frequently form an important part of the service of 
the Church ? I think it can. I see no reason why, if bread 
were broken in memory of the Lord, there should be any 
fencing of the table, as it is called. Why should we wish to 
keep back any who may desire to commemorate the dying 
love of the Bedeemer ? Why should we still connect with the 
simple ordinance of love anything either mystic or terrible ? 

Nonconformists, for good reasons, object to kneeling at 
the Communion table, and still more to the consecration of 
the bread and wine with a view to its administration by the 
Priest's hands ; but even they draw a wide distinction be- 
tween asking a layman to pray and permitting him " to dis- 
pense the ordinance," as it is termed. Yet, why should the 
one be regarded as a more ministerial act than the other? 
Why, too, on their own principles, objecting, as they do, to 
all symbolism, should the minister break the bread in the 
sight of the communicants because Christ did so, and as he 
hands the elements to the deacon, utter the Lord's words 
as if he ivere at that moment representing Him I If this be 
an implied claim to give the bead and wine a wrong 
thought is involved. 

Let us, then, not shrink from following apostolic example. 
Let us, like the first Churches, cease to draw any line 
between communion with Christ through the symbols of 
bread and wine, and communion with Him through praise 
and prayer. For if it be true, as indeed it is, that " he who 
eateth and drinketh unworthily," — that is, profanely, — " not 



120 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

discerning the Lord's body, eateth and drinketh judgment 
to himself" (1 Cor. xi. 29), it is also true that the prayer 
of the wicked (hypocritical prayer) is an abomination to the 
Lord (Prov. xxviii. 9), and equally certain that the praise 
which is heartless can never be anything better than a 
solemn mockery. 

That which the late Dr. Chalmers so wisely recommended 
to the Evangelical Alliance admits of the widest application. 
' Do not attempt,' he said, ' any means of separation with 
a view to promote purity ; precautions for this end are quite 
needless, and often mischievous. Your devotional services, 
if they are what they ought to be, will prove both centri- 
petal and centrifugal forces ; they will attract to you all who 
are really of you — they will as certainly repel those who 
are not.' The fact that profane persons do now not unfre- 
quently approach the table of the Lord in churches where 
no hindrance is placed in the way, arises from the sad fact 
that communion was for many years enforced by law — " a 
picklock to a place" — and that it is still in some quarters 
regarded superstitiously. 

I know very well how strong an objection will be felt by 
many good people to give up the supposed right of deciding 
as to whether or no any given individual, desiring commu- 
nion, has experienced that inward change which is usually 
denominated conversion. Such persons cannot see, and 
will not be persuaded that the very attempt to give evi- 
dence to others of spiritual life leads, almost of necessity, 
to a constraint and self-consciousness which is anything but 
wholesome ; that it occasions danger, were it only from the 
fact that a candidate for admission almost always imagines 
that a certain standard of feeling must be maintained, 
whether natural or not ; that wherever there is stimulus 
or pressure there is sure to be collapse ; and that whatever 



IRACTICAI CONSIDERATIONS. 121 

lays stress on a particular order of thought and feeling 
" casts the heart too much on itself" and in so doing leads it 
away from Christ. 

Xor is this all. Any attempt to be spiritual wp to a cer- 
tain standard, supposed to be attained by a given religious 
body, endangers sincerity and promotes doubt. Artificial 
stimulants are in such a case almost always employed, and 
the result, even when there is no hypocrisy, is to produce 
a state of mind under which the soul narrows and withers. 

The error lies in our trying to do what God only can 
accomplish, viz., to judge the state of the heart of our 
brother. What we are really called upon to do is, to return 
to the apostolic practice of receiving Christians to our affec- 
tions and to our fellowships, simply because they are pro- 
fessedly such ; valuing each only for what he is, or, rather, for 
what he has been made by his faith ; "warning every man" 
in love against whatever we may regard as questionable, 
whether in his opinions or in his conduct ; but never ex- 
cluding him either from our communion or our hearts, 
because he does not follow our counsels, 

Instead, therefore, of attempting, either in prayer or in 
communion, to exclude the unworthy, let us be sure, — for we 
safely may, — that if we are what we ought to be, and our 
worship is spiritual, they who are not of us will very 
speedily go from us. 

The sum, then, of what I have to say on separation is 
this : — In a country like our own, where the knowledge of 
Divine truth is so widely extended, every congregation will, 
as a fact, be found to consist of three classes ; viz., of renewed 
and living Christians ; of persons more or less instructed 
in religion — more or less desirous of being conformed to the 
will of God ; and of absolutely irreligious persons, whether 
formalists, hypocrites, or profane. 



122 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



For the first and last of these classes we are "bound spe- 
cially to provide, — for the first, a service adapted only to 
spiritual minds, and proceeding altogether on the supposi- 
tion that the individuals uniting in it are among the 
renewed children of God ; for the last, a proclamation of the 
Gospel, separated from religious worship altogether. For 
the great middle class no distinct provision should be made, 
and for this reason : God only can tell whether such per- 
sons have really given themselves to Him or not. Man, 
being unable to read the heart, is altogether incapable of 
forming any right judgment in such cases. Every facility, 
therefore, must be given for the operation of conscience, 
more or less enlightened by the Spirit of God, on each 
person included in the class referred to, since this Divine 
Monitor alone can decide the question. 

Nor will He fail to do so if not hindered from without. 
Worship, if it be really spiritual, is in itself a test, and if it 
include within it no element adapted to a worldly state of 
mind will soon come either to be sought and valued for its 
own sake, or to be shunned as distasteful. The Holy Spirit 
will then do what man cannot. He will search the heart, 
and separate, not publicly, but in secret, "one from 
another, even as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the 
goats." 

But this process is one with which it ill becomes man to 
interfere, and in which he rarely meddles without doing 
mischief. He does interfere, and consequently does harm 
and not good, when, on the one hand, he shuts out from 
communion all who cannot, in some way or other, prove to 
his satisfaction that they are real Christians ; and he does 
so, on the other hand, when he provides a service in which 
multitudes may join, as they often do, through a lifetime, 
without ever feeling either repose in Christ or dissatisfac- 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS, l^o 

tion with themselves — living without their spiritual life, if 
they have had one, having ever been recognized either by 
themselves or by others, and dying under circumstances 
which alike forbid either assurance or despair. 

To the objection that without special training laymen 
would be incapable of teaching, I reply that, if separated 
from continued and lengthened discourse on the one hand, 
and from scientific theology on the other — the two great 
hindrances to good, — no peculiar instruction is needful in 
order to benefit others. 

That educated men among the laity would for some time 
shrink from taking any part in public teaching, I think very 
probable. The best will never come forward except from a 
sense of duty and of positive obligation, which has yet to he 
created. Yet few, I suppose, will be prepared to deny that 
such men, if thoughtful students of Scripture, would, in 
many respects, be better qualified to expound the Word, and, 
under the teachings of experience, to apply its lessons to 
the hearts and consciences of their brethren, than, shall I 
say, the great mass of those who, in or out of the Established 
Church, from time to time assume the pastoral office. 

Yinet observes that " the occupations most unconnected 
with Christian speculation, provided they do not oppose 
Christian morality, are less likely to distract the soul from 
what should be its first object here below. It is often," he 
adds, " far better, as regards the religious life of the heart, to 
be a merchant, an artist, a geometrician, than a theologian. 
The cxdusive application of the intellect to religion, not only 
fails to bring us nearer to the truth, — that is, to the life, — 
but it actually tends to remove us farther and farther from 
it." It is quite possible to go on " learning ever better and 
better how to give account of the effects of truth upon the 



124 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

soul/' and to become at the same time ever " more and more 
incapable of experiencing those effects" one's self; to write 
on "the order of grace" while "the heart grows more and 
more hardened against the influence of grace ;" and to en- 
large on facts until they " become phantoms." There can 
be no room for doubt that the marriage of ministry to 
secular life would be in all respects a blessing. 

Not, however, till the wise and thoughtful few, — not till 
the simple-hearted and the devout, the disinterested and 
the upright, have examined this question carefully, and 
weighed without prejudice what may be advanced in rela- 
tion to the duty of educated men to take part in ministry ; 
not till such an amount of moral force has been generated 
in its favour as will insure its working well in a society so 
tenacious of the past as is that in which our lot is cast, 
will the riofht men be secured. Nor is it desirable that 

o 

before then the attempt should be made. Without the 
governing power which an informed public sentiment exer- 
cises over bodies' of men, whether few or many, change 
would be disastrous ; and open ministry, if unsustained by 
the educated and the retiring, would be but the triumph of 
anarchy, of conceit, of ignorance, or of self-will. Wisely 
ordered, nothing but good could result from such an en- 
deavour to bring the cultivated religious thought of the 
Church into contact with Scripture on the one hand, and 
the Christian community on the other. 

Let it not be said that laymen are unfit to be judges of 
theological truth. This is not true. But if it were, they 
would soon he trained to become such by the obligation to 
teach being thrown upon them. Dr. Arnold, in his lectures 
on Modern History, has a striking passage on trial by jury, 
which, with very little modification, may be made to apply 
to the case before us. He says, " To accustom a number of 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 1SS 

persons to tlie intelligent exercise of attending to, and 
weighing and comparing, evidence, and to the moral exer- 
cise of being placed in a high and responsible situation, 
invested with one of God's own attributes, that of judgment, 
and having to determine with authority between truth and 
falsehood, right and wrong, is to furnish them with very 
high means of moral and intellectual culture; in other 
words, it is providing them with one of the highest kinds 
of education. It may not always succeed in obtaining the 
greatest certainty of just legal decisions, but it educates a 
large portion of the nation." 

To teach theology as it has been taught, a special train- 
ing may be necessary; but to teach scriptural truth, which 
is quite a different thing, no such professional education is 
needful. Nor can there be any doubt, that if the obligation 
to do so were felt, the learning now consecrated to secular 
professions — to law, to medicine, or to literature — would 
speedily he supplemented by the study of the New Testa- 
ment, for the purpose of teaching it; since what is now 
commonly regarded as an intrusion into another man's 
office, would then be demanded as righteous service. It is 
mere folly to suppose that gifts will ever be developed in a 
Church which makes no provision for their exercise. 

To those who hold that God has exclusively committed 
all teaching in the Church to a class, episcopally or other- 
wise ordained, appointed by presbyters, or authorized by 
conferences, all that I have been saying will go for nothing. 
To those who have been taught to believe that training in 
a denominational college, the possession of a given scheme or 
system of theology, the holding of certain opinions relative 
to baptism or pgedo-baptism, fluency of speech, or some 
other similar qualification, endorsed by popular choice, is 
essential to the exercise of ministry, I shall probably be " as 



126 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

one that dreameth." By those, on the other hand, who 
have meditated on the habits and practices of the Apostolic 
Church ; by those who believe that this Church was not a 
mere seed, hereafter to be developed into a hierarchy, but a 
perfect model of its kind ; by those who have pondered the 
fact that the gift of tongues descended at Pentecost, not on 
the Apostles only, but on the whole Church, both male and 
female (Acts ii. 1 — 4) ; that the Divine donation was a 
fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel, breaking down official 
distinctions, and vouchsafed in order that both servants and 
handmaidens, " all flesh," might prophesy (Acts ii. 17, 18) ; 
that after the persecution about Stephen " they that were 
scattered abroad" — all classes — " went everywhere preach- 
ing the Word" (Acts viii. 4) ; and that in later days the 
warning needed was, " My brethren, be not many teachers" 
(Jas. iii. 1), — some things I have said will, I am sure, be 
deemed worthy of consideration, and eventually, I doubt 
not, bring forth good fruit. 

Anything, surely, is better than a system which practi- 
cally denies the existence of any God-sent teachers at all, 
since it is based on the supposed right of a patron to ap- 
point, or of a people to select, their own spiritual instructor ; 
since it requires the hearer either to submit to whoever 
may be sent him, or to support that particular ministry 
which most accurately reflects his oivn opinions; since it 
justifies him — if a Nonconformist — in discharging, separat- 
ing from, or starving out any teacher who deviates from 
what is conventionally regarded as the truth ; since it bids 
him found and sustain colleges to train ministers to teach 
in accordance with the views of the sect or party to which 
he may belong ; and since it. forbids any change of view in 
a minister so long as he occupies the pulpit allotted to him. 
A more ingenious device for stereotyping thought; for 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 127 

crushing the growth of any newly discovered truth ; for 
silencing testimony ; for perpetuating our own errors and 
prejudices, the wit of man or the subtlety of Satan never 
yet devised or carried out.* 

And now the question comes, — "What is to be done 
for our children if the educational influences of the church 
and chapel are to be withdrawn ; if our little ones are no 
longer to be wooed and won by the voice of the pastor ; 
if they are no more to be instructed, invited, or entreated 
in sermons ; if they are not to be trained in habits of piety 
by public services of prayer and praise ? " 

* The ablest preacher that the age has produced thus writes about ser- 
mons : — " Sermons are crutches, — I believe often the worst things for spiritual 
health that ever were invented''' Again : " They enfeeble the strong." 
Speaking of " impressive " discourses, he says, — " I see what rhetoric does, 
and what it seems to do, and I thoroughly despise it. I think it makes 
people worse instead of better ; exposes the feelings to tension, like the pull- 
ing constantly of a spring backward, until the spring loses its elasticity, 
becomes weak, or breaks; and yet perhaps I do it an injustice." Again: 
"Nothing demoralizes (in the military sense) so much as excitement. It 
destroys the tone of the heart, leaves an exhaustion which craves stimulus, 
aud utterly unfits for duty." ..." Eeligious people are generally — at 
least the so-called religious — the iveahest of mankind." Speaking of his own 
ministry, he says, — " I cannot even rejoice without fear, for I confess that at 
best pulpit instruction seems to me to be as pernicious as it is efficacious. To 
spend life and waste all strength of nerve and heart upon it seems like a 
duty of sowing the sea-sand. Some good is done, but much less than people 
think." Again : How long will sermonizing continue ? With all my heart I 
hope not to the end of life, unless life is nearly done ; for it is a kind of 
mean martyrdom by a lingering death." — Robertson's Life and Letters. 

I am not called upon to endorse these sentiments in all their breadth. 
They may have been written on a Monday, while the preacher was suffering 
under depression arising from reaction ; but it is not the less true that they 
express Mr. Eobertson's calmest and deepest convictions. One cannot, 
however, but ask, Is it possible that anything like what I Lave quoted 
could have been written by a good man while basking in the sunshine of 
popularity, had there not been a persuasion of the most profound character 
that our ordinary methods of Christian instruction fall far short of the ideal 
of Christ ? 



12) 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



Before replying at large to this inquiry, let me be per- 
mitted to observe that nothing I have said need be 
supposed to set aside such special instruction for children 
as is now given at stated times by most ministers to them 
alone. The only point to be looked at is this, — Would a 
ministry of the Church, if established, exclude the children 
of the flock ? I see not why it should. 

The Bible never separates parents from their children, or 
masters from that class of servants who, unlike our modem 
domestics, were then as much under authority as the 
children. Neither in the Old Testament, nor in the New, 
is a state of things ever contemplated in which the head 
of a family should hold one position in relation to God, 
and his household occupy another. The sons of Noah or 
of Isaac, of Aaron, of Eli, or of David, however widely 
differing in character, are all regarded as of the household 
of faith until their apostasy is avowed, and the transgressors 
are cut off. 

In later times the baptism of the head seems always 
to have carried with it the baptism of all who were in the 
house ; and where but one parent is Christian, " even then 
are the children holy " (1 Cor. vii. 14). They may grow up 
to backslide or to apostatize, but they can never occupy a 
position other than that of " called " ones, who have failed 
to make their election sure. The apostle says to the jailer 
not simply, "Believe, and thou shalt be saved;" he adds, 
"and thy house " (Acts xvi. 31) ; and again, in precisely 
the same spirit, the angel informs Cornelius not only 
that Peter should tell him words whereby he should be 
saved, but also all his house (Acts xi. 14). To interpret 
these passages as simply meaning that if the household 
repented and believed they too should be saved, is to 
deprive them of all point, for this is true of everybody. 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 129 

Christian parents too often regard the bringing of their 
children to God as a thing apart altogether from the relation 
which they, as the offspring of redeemed persons, have 
sustained to the Lord from their birth. The baptism of 
children has unquestionably helped to darken the true 
position sustained by such, since this rite is generally 
supposed to confer much that has in fact been inherited. 
As a consequence, it is by tome taken for granted that a 
seed of grace is deposited in baptism, out of which, in later 
life, true piety developes ; while others as unreasonably 
suppose that the conversion of their children, as a great 
fact of spiritual experience, is always and necessarily the 
beginning of the Divine life in them, whereas it is not 
unfrequently the awakening rather than the birth of their 
spirits. 

Violent transformations ought not to characterize the 
history of children born and brought up in families dedi- 
cated to Christ. The change experienced by such may be, 
and indeed should be, a conscious one ; but it should be 
the consciousness not so much of a new life, as of a setting 
out in a new direction. Perhaps it is not too much to say 
that anomalies like those which now so frequently distress 
us would rarely exist if Christian families were what they 
ought to be, and Christian society what God intended it 
should be. 

I am no friend to tyranny or severity of any kind, but 
I am quite sure that modern parents err greatly in failing 
to "command" their children after them. It is truly 
pitiful to see young persons, far enough from having 
attained to years of discretion, set up what they call their 
religious opinions, in defiance of parental law. One 
admires ritualism in worship, another floral decorations, a 
third music or intoned prayers ; a fourth is enamoured of 

K 



130 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

some public orator or other, and so they are permitted to 
wander where they will, or to imbibe any notions which 
may at a given time be regarded as fashionable. How 
such parents can expect a Divine blessing on their endea- 
vours to bring up their children for God I am altogether at 
a loss to conceive. 

What we need in parental rule and in family life, as 
indeed in everything else, is a true ideal. Nor let it be 
thought that the ideal of the New Testament, however 
high, is an unpractical one, because it so greatly tran- 
scends that of ordinary life. Certain it is that the nearer 
we can approach to it in the household, the greater will be 
the probability that our children will honour and embrace it. 

The young live in ideals. If the ideal be lofty, none 
will make greater sacrifices for its realization than they. 
If it be low, none will disregard or despise it so soon. 
Even as things are (I speak as an old man), young persons 
commonly surpass their elders, and what is worse, surpass 
their later selves, in generosity, in disinterestedness, in 
self-sacrifice, in truthfulness, in all that goes to form eleva- 
tion of character as distinguished from the merely pru- 
dential. 

What they would be if, instead of seeing, as they do, 
that half the religion they meet with is a sham, and the 
other half a strange mixture of things incongruous ; that 
popular Christianity is but an affair of decencies and re- 
spectabilities, of ritualisms or of sectarianisms ; that its 
moralities are, for the most part, conventional ; its sacrifices 
nominal ; its ambitions earthly ; its teaching largely pro- 
fessional ; its aims too often carnal ; its entire standard of 
life and conduct not appreciably higher than that of the 
world by which it is surrounded ; — what, I say, our children 
would be if, instead of this, they could see religion treated 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. 131 

as something holy and apart, belonging to another world, 
and stamped with the character of Divinity, it may not be 
easy to predict; but of this I am quite sure, that the 
greater the sacrifice in such a case demanded, the more 
cheerfully would it be rendered. 

The young have no respect for compromises; and they 
discern with a quick eye the worthlessness of petty re- 
strictions and paltry insincerities. But they respect truth 
and goodness. They cannot have much regard for a faith 
which in theory mortifies the flesh and crucifies the world, 
but in practice glorifies both, by bowing to the public 
opinion of the circle in which its possessor may desire to 
move, and by estimating fellow-creatures not according to 
their virtue, their integrity, or their nobleness of character, 
but according to their rank, their wealth, or their culture. 
They cannot understand, at least so long as their minds 
are unsophisticated, how it is possible to live above the 
world, and yet to make success in it the prime object ot 
existence ; to be dead to it, and yet to be as keenly alive as 
others to all the objects of its ambition. 

ISTor would they, I imagine, suffer in any way if all these 
things were to be reversed ; if public preaching were to be 
superseded in the Church by a closer and more conversa- 
tional address ; if, instead of public appeal to them from 
the pulpit, private counsel and personal influence were 
more generally to be exercised; or if, while no barriers 
were placed in the way of youthful communion, no in- 
ducement were offered for the possession of a piety higher 
than that of their ordinary life, or differing from that 
development of a heavenly character which ought to be the 
invariable result of the instructions and example of a 
godly family* 

* " Does not the parent among us too often look upon the meeting-place 



132 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

But, finally, it may be said, granting all you desire, 
what could a ministry of the Church, such as has been 
spoken of, if it existed, accomplish, which is not, or at least 
might not be, better done either from the pulpit or by the 
press ? 

I think much, bearing both on the intellectual enlarge- 
ment and moral development of the believer : but these 
topics must form the subjects of separate chapters. 

of his Church, as more holy than the place of his ahode ; the assembly in that 
puhlic place as more sacred than the smaller gathering around his own 
hearth ; the instruction and worship in the great congregation — the rites and 
observances practised in it — as more solemn and impressive, and more effi- 
cacious for spiritual ends, through the fuller measure of the Divine presence 
and power in them, than any instruction, or service, or action can he ex- 
pected to he in the little family circle ? And thus exalting the Church 
ahove the family, as a sphere of Divine influence, he is apt to think that he 
discharges the chief part of his ohligation to the souls of his children, when 
he hrings them under its instruction and influence. Does he not, he will 
say to himself, render them the highest service in his power, — does he not 
provide for them the truest moral and religious training, — when he is so 
careful to take them to the holiest place — the very house of God, — where 
they witness the most sacred observances, and receive the fullest and most 
powerful instruction, and are most in the presence of the Divine Spirit ? 
He needs to he warned against this narrow view of his obligation, and of 
the false estimate, on which it rests, of the moral power of the Church as 
compared with his own. 

" Christian parents need to know, and to he deeply and abidingly sensible, 
that there are no walls which are hallowed by a Diviner consecration than 
those within which they dwell ; no functions more sacred than are assigned 
to those whom God, by His providence, has ordained to be prophets and 
priests and kings within their own house ; no words spoken by human lips 
so fitted to be "the power of God unto salvation" as those which should fall 
from their lips on the ears of their children ; no priestly hands so likely, by 
any acts and observances, to convey the Holy Ghost as their hands by the 
daily work they may do on the behalf and in the presence of their children ; 
no ministers who can do for the souls in their congregations what they may do 
for those souls in their families ; no Church that has the power for reli- 
giously educating like the church in the house." — Autumnal Address at 
Bristol of the Chairman of the Congregational Union. 



133 



CHAPTEE X. 

INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 

By this phrase I mean neither more nor less than what St 
Paul intends when he says to the Corinthians, " I speak as 
unto my children, Be ye also enlarged" (2 Cor. vi. 13). 
There is no room to doubt that he refers here to "that 
expansive effect of love on the heart which is the opposite 
of narrow-mindedness." 

If we connect this exhortation with another, addressed 
at an earlier period to the same people, — " Brethren, be not 
children in understanding ; howbeit, in malice be ye child- 
ren, but in understanding be ye men" (1 Cor. xiv. 20), — 
we can scarcely fail to see what would have been St. Paul's 
thoughts in relation to the duty of taking broad rather than 
narrow views of truth, and of forming kind rather than 
harsh judgments regarding fellow-Christians who may 
seem to us to be in danger of latitudinarianism. 

This state of mind — the very opposite of that which has 
always distinguished those who have attempted to unite 
open ministry with a rigid adherence to theological formulas 
— would, I think, be generated by it, were greater freedom 
of thought and expression allowed; were differences in 
ministry accepted without violation of Christian love ; and 
were our controversies carried on in more devout submis- 
sion to the Word of God. 

Then, it might be hoped, would good but timid Christians 
come to see that it is the unreasoning man who is of all 



134 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

others the most unspiritual ; that he who takes the most 
irrational, and therefore superstitious, view of any ordinance 
is the one who least appreciates its Divine significance ; that 
he who most firmly believes the Bible to be from God will 
most readily appeal to human reason ; that nothing is worse 
than the tenacious but " unvivifying belief which people of 
evil hearts and lives so often keep upon the great central 
truths of revelation ; nothing more appalling than their 
general acceptance of these truths as mathematical certain- 
ties, as things laid alongside of their actual life, without 
their ever touching or quickening their spiritual con- 
sciousness." * 

But the immediate question to be answered is, — What 
could a ministry of the Church, if it existed, do for intel- 
lectual enlargement which is not, or at least might not be, 
more effectually accomplished either from the pulpit or by 
the press ? 

In reply, I can only repeat, with reference to the pulpit, 
my firm conviction that, under the actual conditions of its 
existence, it is impossible that more can be done through 
that particular agency than is now effected. 

The press, or at least that portion of it with which we 
have here to deal — the religious press — is for the most part 
representative. Commonly established for the purpose of 
advancing the interests of the party or denomination to 
which it belongs, it exists — whether weekly or monthly, 
whether as newspaper or as magazine — in the form of a 
property, sometimes belonging to an individual, but more 
generally held in trust for some benevolent end. Under 
such circumstances an editor, however intelligent he may 
be, is in bonds. He can admit nothing, whether true or 

* " The Two Friends," by the author of " The Patience of Hope." 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 135 

false, which he has reason to believe would alarm subscri- 
bers, diminish circulation, and lessen profits. 

The inevitable result, however painful it may be to say 
so, is that truth, which is but another name for Christ 
(John xiv. 6 ; xviii. 37), everywhere comes into the market, 
and is bought and sold without either buyer or seller realiz- 
ing the fact that such a traffic is going on. Were the voice 
of the Eedeemer to be heard from heaven, saying, ' Ye sell 
Me for gain,' the response, without doubt, would be imme- 
diate, 'Wherein have we sold Thee?' Habit has in this 
matter seared conscience, and public opinion, thoroughly 
perverted, justifies the wrong. Hie witness of disinterested- 
ness is lost. 

Yet when, it may well be asked, was truth ever advanced 
without risk, without loss, without damage? At what 
period of the world's history has any progress in goodness 
ever been made which has not involved the injury, and 
often the ruin, of objects which, until their overthrow, 
filled their supporters with complacency. 

It is this state of things, — the subsidising of an order of 
men to teach a given theology, and the further subsidizing 
of a religious press to support these teachings, which stereo- 
types religious thought, paralyzes the devout lay mind, and 
exposes so much that is justly dear to us to perpetual assault 
from the standpoints of scepticism. 

Separate apostolic truth from post-apostolic develop- 
ments, and the contest with error is already more than half 
over. Continue to identify the two, and it will inevitably 
go on with ever increasing fierceness, and too often with 
disastrous results. To contend with scepticism in this 
fashion is to fight with tied hands, and to render the use of 
the pebble and the sling impossible. 

But it may be said, What evidence is there that, gene- 



236 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

rally speaking, the mind of the laity, active enough in all 
secular concerns, is paralyzed in relation to Divine truth ? 

I think there is much reason to believe that this is the 
case. Perhaps, however, I ought to have said drugged 
rather than paralyzed, for it is a state of mind induced hy 
opiates. Be this, however, as it may, it must, I fear, be 
taken for true, that the present condition of educated per- 
sons generally, who have given themselves to Christ, is, in 
some aspects, absolutely deplorable. 

I say advisedly "in some aspects," because in active 
efforts to do good, whether as teachers of the young, visi- 
tors of the poor, distributors of tracts, or supporters of mis- 
sions, many young people especially are exemplary. It is 
truly refreshing to see how cheerfully multitudes, moved 
by the purest motives, sacrifice time and sometimes health, 
in the various labours to which they consider themselves 
called by God and by His Church. But it is no less pain- 
ful to observe how singularly the mass of these labourers 
fall short in all that may be termed growth in the truth. 

Beyond that kind of acquaintance with Scripture which 
is needful for the instruction of children in a Sunday 
school, and which is commonly acquired in Bible classes ; 
beyond what may be gathered from sermons or from maga- 
zines, or be selected from the Sacred Volume for the promo- 
tion of devotional feeling, — not a few otherwise intelligent 
Christians know next to nothing of what God has 
revealed. That the activeuse of the intellect is essential to 
the acquisition of Divine truth, these excellent persons 
seem never to suspect, or, if such a thought does occasion- 
ally occur, they think themselves bound to crush it as 
something contrary to faith and humility. As a conse- 
quence, the most astounding ignorance is commonly mani- 
fested in relation to almost everything in the Bible, beyond 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 137 

that narrow circle in which, as it is fondly imagined, all 
fundamental and essential truth is included. 

That scores of texts are, both from the pulpit and in 
religious books, especially of the more Evangelical class, 
and to a still greater extent in religious tracts, constantly 
perverted from their true meaning, they are absolutely un- 
conscious. Of Old Testament prophecy, especially in rela- 
tion to the future, they know next to nothing. To what 
may be said either for or against the expectation of a pre- 
millennial advent of the Lord, they are total strangers. Into 
the true meaning of the general text of Scripture, so far as 
it may be obtained from the study of the writings of devout 
critics, or by an independent consideration of the context, 
they never think of entering. Each section of the Church 
has so long appointed and supported trained men to justify 
its own views Sunday by Sunday from the pulpit, that this 
is regarded as enough. All that is not handled there, — and 
oh, how much does this embrace ! — is left untouched. 

Almost every subject on which Christians are divided 
in opinion, and especially those which have long formed 
topics for controversy, might with advantage be examined 
afresh, if only it were done without regard to ecclesiastical 
prejudices or interests. The probability is, that in almost 
all cases, the combatants on both sides are more or less in 
the wrong, — partly because of the antagonistic position in 
relation to others which each has thought it needful to 
occupy, and partly because all alike have, in various 
forms, identified the possession or preservation of property 
with adherence to given forms of thought or practice. 

On all these subjects there is still room for an honest 
inquirer to ask, " What saith the Scripture V Instead, 
therefore, of avoiding what are called disputed points, these, 
because of the diversities of view to which they have given 



138 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

hirth, are the very subjects which demand the earliest 
attention of every man who believes that such diversity 
can arise only from misconception or prejudice. Almost 
every theological tenet, however devout or respected may 
be its adherents, needs in this way to be calmly recon- 
sidered in the interests of truth alone, and without regard to 
sect or party. 

Finally, every subject which is more or less dimly or 
clearly revealed in Scripture, but rarely if ever handled in 
the pulpit, ought in turn to be examined by the Church. 
The following in particular might be named : — The condi- 
tion of the ancient world outside of Judaism ; the marked 
absence of anything approaching to a missionary spirit in 
the chosen people ; Old Testament prophecy generally ; 
the ministry of angels under the old dispensation and 
under the new ; the Scriptural sense of such words as 
wrath, salvation, conversion, and regeneration ; the testi- 
mony of the Bible in relation to Hades or the invisible 
world, to heaven as the abode of God and of the holy 
angels, and to hell or Gehenna as distinguished from future 
retribution generally ; the Fatherhood of God, as implying 
everything involved in moral government; the resurrec- 
tion of the body; the first resurrection, and the general 
resurrection ; a particular providence as harmonizing with 
fixed law; the administration of the Lord's Supper, 
whether regarded in Scripture as m Church or as a house- 
hold ordinance ; the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church 
and on the world ; the character of the particular dispen- 
sation under which we are living ; the character of the 
period called the millennium ; the hope of Israel as spoken 
of by St. Paul ; the nations of the saved outside the New 
Jerusalem ; the probability or otherwise of pardon or pro- 
bation for the heathen, either in Hades or after the resur- 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT 



139 



rection; the Church, its origin, nature, object, and end; 
the Christian ministry, its character and claim ; the priest- 
hood of all believers ; the New Testament prophet; the 
kingdom of God, and of heaven ; the mystery of iniquity ; 
the last form of Antichrist; the calamities of the latter 
day ; and the final reign of the saints. 

On all these subjects, rarely if ever treated on in the 
public assembly, Scripture reveals something. The charac- 
ter and extent of the revelation is in each case the sole 
point to be ascertained. No man can examine these ques- 
tions and many similar ones freely and carefully, without 
feeling that the Bible is the most interesting book in the 
world, and that an extended investigation into its contents 
and teaching, far from diverting the mind from practical 
duty, tends more than anything else to deepen a sense of 
responsibility, and to elevate the entire character. 

Nor is this all. There are not a few subjects, and im- 
portant ones too, which, belonging exclusively to believers, 
cannot be dealt with, either before a mixed congregation, 
or by the press, without injury. The doctrine of election, 
in some of its aspects, is of this character, and so is that of a 
future restitution, involving, as it does, the pardon of sin 
after death, and a twofold salvation, — the higher and the 
lower. Truths of this character, so far as they are revealed, 
are for the believer only. To a sinner, called to immediate 
repentance and faith, — his present and pressing duty, — it 
would obviously be most unsuitable to speak even of the 
possibility of salvation in other states of existence ; to him 
the only message is, " He that believeth shall be saved, and 
he that believeth not shall be condemned ; " since whatever 
mercy may be in store elsewhere for the neglecter of truth 
heie, it is uncovenanted mercy, and not part of the offer 
now made to such persons. 



140 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

Further, whatever may ultimately be the different condi- 
tions of the saved in other worlds, — and it will assuredly 
be something very different from the unmeaning talk we 
so often hear about degrees of happiness in heaven, — it must 
not be forgotten that God never calls any man to less than 
sonship and a " crown," and that whatever may follow after 
death, either to the ignorant or inconsistent, forms no part 
of the public testimony of the Gospel. 

Yet these things are not to be passed by. All that is 
revealed relating thereto is to be carefully gathered up and 
garnered as a precious portion of the believer's hope. To 
him it is of vast importance to know that " there are many 
gains and many losses in Christ;" that there are per- 
sons who may be saved, and yet go away sorrowing, simply 
because " we are made poor by what we miss as well as by 
what we lose." To him, too, is it given to know, without 
abusing the knowledge, that the redemption of the world by 
Christ is as certain as the salvation of the elect, and that the 
revelation of this truth is made to comfort him in present 
darkness, to enlarge his conceptions of the love that passeth 
knowledge, to give him rest in the equity of a mercy that 
endureth for ever, and to make the Divine sovereignty the 
source, not of selfish but of a world-wide and loving satis- 
faction. 

But how can truths, capable of being appreciated only 
by those to whom Christ has addressed them, be impressed as 
they ought to be, so long as no ministry for the Church 
exists which is capable of being separated from that which 
is for the world ? 

Surely it is for a lamentation that, beyond what is in- 
volved in active duty, Christianity, as it is now received, 
has no special message for the believer, and makes little or 
no claim on the spiritual understanding of the man who 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 141 

accepts it. Years roll on, and sermons are multiplied, but 
the mind of the Christian community does not advance. 
Nay, it is by no means uncommon to find both men and 
women, after ten, twenty, or thirty years' profession of reli- 
gion, more ignorant of the Bible as a whole than they were 
when they first called themselves Christians. It is this 
that makes the sceptical tendencies of the age — I might 
say error of every kind — so dangerous. A man intelli- 
gently and spiritually acquainted with Scripture is in as 
little danger from infidelity as from Romanism. Without 
this defence he is in constant peril from both. 

I have said, and I am sure with truth, that the present 
age is an age of feeble convictions. But a disciple of 
Christ should be known quite as much by the strength of 
his belief as by the harmony of his conduct with the teach- 
ings of the Book by which he professes to be guided. 

I do not mean to affirm that such a man must neces- 
sarily hold this or that theory of inspiration ; or that he 
must deny the existence of a human element in the Bible, 
without which it would not have been fit for its purpose, 
but with which is inevitably associated a certain amount 
of liability to error,* in cases luhere verbal accuracy is not all 
important, and where, therefore, it has not been secured by 

* Two facts are indisputable : one is that errors exist in the Bible as we 
have it (e. g., comp. 2 Chron. xxii. 2 with 2 Kings viii. 26) ; the other is 
that no errors can be found important enough to affect the great purposes 
of the Book itself. Corruptions in the text, mistranslations, and interpola- 
tions, may indeed be found, for "the Book" has not been preserved from 
accidents which belong to the transmission of all ancient documents ; but the 
great security is, that " all Scriptural truths reverberate and diffuse them- 
selves along the pages of the Bible ; none is confined to one text, or one mode 
of enunciation ; all parts of the scheme are eternally chasing each other ; 
they diverge only to recombine, and under such a vast variety of expressions 
that it is utterly impossible for truth to be neutralized by any mistakes of the 
kind supposed." 



142 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

verbal inspiration. But I do maintain that his convictions 
must be of a kind and character very far above all such 
considerations ; that they must be unfaltering and unassail- 
able, — deep as the consciousness he has of his own respon- 
sibility to God, and indelible as the very instincts of his 
nature. 

Evidences set forth in books, — however valuable and 
important in their place, — can never supply what is needed. 
The belief on which a man is to live must rest on expe- 
rience ; on an experience not less real than that which 
guides him in daily life ; which gives him an unshaken 
confidence in the regularity of the laws of nature, and 
which leads him, day by day, to stake all that is dear to 
him on the stability of the material world. The first 
preachers of the Gospel triumphed in consequence of their 
unshaken confidence in the certainty of that great body 
of facts on which they rested all they taught. They knew 
in whom they had believed, and by the force of that know- 
ledge they conquered in an age which was even more 
sceptical than our own. This alone is, properly speaking, 
Faith. 

But how is it possible for convictions like these to pre- 
vail among men who hold, as Christians now commonly do, 
that a great part of Divine truth is incomprehensible ; that 
very much that is included in what we call Divine revela- 
tion is no revelation at all, since it cannot be understood ; 
that although not understood it is nevertheless in some way 
or other to be believed ; that the meaning of large portions 
of the Word of God — its interpretation — is only to be 
arrived at by most uncertain processes ; that in relation to 
a variety of points in Scripture wide divergencies of opinion 
will always prevail, inasmuch as such differences arise, 
not from sin, but from temperament, — from differing idio- 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 143 

syncracies, — from the ever shifting media through which 
men necessarily read the Word. 

How is it possible that any man should have strong con- 
fidence in the teachings of Scripture who holds that God 
allows obscurity and difficulty, not as a part of our proba- 
tion, testing thereby our simplicity of purpose, our candour, 
or our freedom from pride and prejudice, which would be a 
truth ; but in order that we might learn to bear with each 
other's blunders, and that the diversity of sects thence arising 
might, through the agency of party, call forth greater energy, 
and, by antagonism, lead to a higher purity than could be 
expected if the stimulus of opposition were withdrawn ? 

The fallacy and folly of all this is obvious. To maintain 
that God's Word is incomprehensible and indefinite, — that 
His " trumpet " gives " an uncertain sound," — is as absurd as 
to say that light does not enlighten. The Book itself tells 
us that God's deepest truth is plain to babes, and dark only 
to the wise and learned. We reverse the teaching, and 
say, — Divine truth is dark to all but the learned, and clear 
probably to none. 

And idliy do we fall into this error ? Simply because we 
set out with a persuasion that a book about the meaning 
of which men have quarrelled so long, was never meant to 
be more than partially understood ; because we build our 
beliefs in relation to it, not on that inward and Divine reve- 
lation which God makes of Himself and of His truth in the 
heart of every renewed man, but on external testimony, — on 
testimony the value of which must depend entirely on 
researches open only to the few, and which are, after all, to 
some extent necessarily fluctuating and uncertain ; because 
we fill our minds with speculations of all kinds about the 
philosophy of revelation, instead of simply accepting the 
facts of it ; and because, owing to our indolence and world- 



144 ORGANIZE!* CHRISTIANITY. 

liness, we prefer an uncertain belief which, costs us no 
trouble, to the certain faith which, however enlightening, 
might poison some cups of mere worldly pleasure. 

The faith of God's elect is a faith that receives the 
Bible mainly on the evidence it gives of itself, and on the 
certainty of the greatest of all the facts of our experience, 
that in the hands of the Spirit of God it regenerates ; that 
it delivers us from the bondage of law and sin, and that it 
brings us into the liberty of love and grace. 

And this may be done without at all undervaluing what 
is usually termed the evidences of Christianity, — without 
at all despising that historic testimony to a miraculous 
economy on which our belief in the supernatural rests; 
for Christianity undoubtedly bases itself on facts recorded 
in sacred books, which have been transmitted to us by 
means in no way materially differing from those which 
have conserved other ancient documents. But this kind of 
evidence, however important in its season, is but rudimen- 
tary. As we advance in the Christian life we may be said 
to grow out of it, for that which is much more convincing 
then takes its place. 

No belief that is not experimental and renewing can 
ever unite men in one judgment, since only as a man is 
delivered from the prejudices and sins which becloud his 
faculties, can he obtain a clear and true view of the teach- 
ing of Holy Scripture. Perhaps it is not too much to 
say that while we "begin the Christian life by deriving our 
knowledge of God from Scripture, we end by becoming 
ourselves witnesses to Scripture, inasmuch as we ultimately 
obtain through the Holy Spirit an acquaintance with our 
Heavenly Father far leyond any that the Bible alone can 
impart, and a faith in His character which would be un- 
shaken were the Book itself to disappear for ever. 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 145 

To a genuine disciple, really enlightened by the truth 
itself, all the external testimony in the world, miraculous 
or otherwise, could not give additional confidence. Such 
a faith may indeed be shaken ; for doubt sometimes comes 
as a consequence of sin, sometimes as a result of sickness, 
and sometimes as a direct temptation of Satan ; but it will 
be only temporary ; the heart will set right that which has 
gone wrong, and trust will supply the place of present 
consciousness. 

But more, such a believer will not only accept the 
Gospel, he will both live and teach it, even at a cost few in 
this generation seem disposed to pay, — the cost of time 
now devoted to business. No man can, properly speaking, 
be a disciple of Christ who does not learn in order that he 
may teach; — not perhaps publicly, for few are called to 
this duty, but at least individually and socially, — in the 
family, in limited circles, in private conversation, and this 
on the ground that, being a Christian, he is an appointed 
conservator of 1/ruih. 

For his own benefit he will do this, inasmuch as the 
strength of his faith in the Book will depend more than 
anything else on his holy and intelligent familiarity with 
its contents, — a familiarity scarcely ever obtained by those 
who do not, in one form or other, feel bound to teach • and 
further, because the task he is called upon to undertake 
will eminently tend to counteract the temptations of daily 
life, to check the desire of gain, and to enlarge every 
faculty of his mind. 

For the benefit of others he will do it, because he is a 
representative man ; it may be the head of a household, for 
whose instruction he is responsible ; because he is to be a 
pattern to the world in which he lives and works, of what 
a Christian should be ; because he is a guardian of that 

L 



146 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

faith which has never been corrupted except by professional 
theologians, when unchecked by an intelligent laity. 

For the individual and collective instruction of the 
"body of Christ," then, if for no other reason, an open 
ministry, demanding for God's service, intelligence from 
the intelligent, research from the more highly educated, 
and active participation in teaching from all who are 
capable of it, has become a necessity. 

The bearing which a well-regulated open ministry might 
in time be expected to have in bringing about a common 
understanding as to what the Bible either proclaims or 
whispers, must not here be unnoticed. 

Few things probably are more painfully perplexing to a 
Christian heart than the fact that men apparently equal in 
ability, in piety, and in integrity, while alike recognizing 
the necessity of Divine guidance and seeking it earnestly, 
yet come to directly opposite conclusions as to the actual 
teachings of Scripture on points which, far from being un- 
important, greatly affect both conduct and character. The 
office and authority of the Church, the character and mean- 
ing of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, all in short that 
falls under the head of what are commonly known as 
" Church principles," are of this class. It is impossible to- 
avoid the conclusion, that in the different views taken as 
to the teaching of Scripture on these points, some of us 
must be fearfully wrong. It cannot be a matter of in- 
difference whether a man accepts or rejects priestly inter- 
vention in religious services ; whether he regards Baptism 
as a regenerating ordinance, a declaratory one, or a merely 
symbolic assertion of spiritual need ; whether in short he 
admits or denies the Scriptural character of that great 
system of Ecclesiasticism which, more or less, although 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 147 

modified in form and extent, claims rule alike over the 
Papist and the Protestant. 

How is a Christian inquirer to ascertain what is his duty 
in this matter ? How is he to arrive at firm and settled con- 
victions as to what Scripture authorizes or forbids him to do? 

I reply, let him remember two things : one is, that the 
revelation of God is the probation of man ; that Scripture, 
like everything else, is to us what we are to it ; that our 
reading depends on the point of view from which we regard 
it ; that while a latitudinarian will see what he will call 
" broad " principles in every page, it will as certainly seem 
to an ecclesiastic redolent on all sides of Church authority. 
The other is, that while to an unbelieving mind the Book 
will present innumerable difficulties, and to a credulous 
one offer abundant food for credulity, it consents to open 
its richest treasures only to the man whose eye (to use a 
painter's phrase) is " innocent ; " whose heart is pure, and 
whose faith, instead of being mere indolent assent, is but 
the expression of his highest reason. 

But it will be said, admitting all this, how is an ordinary 
reader helped by the concession ? I reply — directly not at 
all; but indirectly much, since it is of no slight importance 
that such an one should know assuredly that, after the text 
of Scripture has been ascertained ever so exactly, and the 
translation of it made ever so accurate, there still remains 
an obstacle to be overcome, alike by learned and unlearned, 
which, if not mastered, will as effectually darken the mean- 
ing of the Word as any corruption, either of text or version. 
However thankfully, therefore, he may accept the labours 
of competent men on preliminary points, the simplest 
reader still finds himself face to face with a difficulty with 
which learning cannot deal, and the removal of which is 
his own special obligation. 






148 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

The obstacle in question is a biassed will, a leaning in 
favour of some foregone conclusion, the absence of disin- 
terestedness. Whether this arises from prejudice taking 
the form of piety, — from laudable desire to uphold a given 
system or form of doctrine, esteemed all-important, — from 
timidity, and fear of reproach, — from the ambition of in- 
fluencing others for God, — or from unwillingness to give 
up either long-cherished traditional views, or opinions 
formed independently, and avowed perhaps at some cost, 
matters little ; the evil is the same. 

These prepossessions — one or other of them — commonly 
form the ground, the elevated spot, from which we look over 
the field of revelation ; and whatever be the peculiar emi- 
nence from which we gaze, that decides the character of the 
scene to us. According to a man's standpoint, therefore, is 
the impression he receives as to what the teaching of Scrip- 
ture really is. Given the precise point of view from which 
any one looks, and we know what he will see, as surely as 
we can foretell the particular features of natural scenery 
which will strike one who occupies a certain position for 
its review. 

It cannot be otherwise ; nor has God intended that it 
should be. But what follows ? Plainly this : — That our 
understanding of Scripture aright (the text and the transla- 
tion being accurate) depends not only on a right state of 
mind — which all Christians admit, and to obtain which 
they seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, — but also, and 
equally, on freedom from the entanglements of interests, 
the renunciation of which are in our own power, did we but 
see how they darken. 

The man that has freed himself from these secondary 
and disturbing influences is, so far, a disinterested inquirer. 
He may be ignorant in relation to many things, he may be 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 149 

a very sinful man, he may be actually vicious, and yet, in 
spite of all, lie will, if a diligent reader of Scripture, be far 
more likely to attain to a knowledge of the truth — whether 
he obeys it or not — than the man who, however devout, 
however evangelically enlightened, or however personally 
pure, is nevertheless so mixed up with things which are 
dear to him as a means of usefulness, or with persons 
honoured for their zeal, that he cannot but approach the 
word of God with a strong and earnest desire — how strong 
he himself has little conception — to find there support for 
them ; with an indisposition — how deep he little imagines 
— to see anything in Scripture which seems to throw doubt 
either on their excellence or Divine authority. But the fact 
is, that only as we search for truth, without reference to any 
end beyond itself — whether that end be our own peace of 
mind or the conversion of others, the sustentation of any 
institution, the support of any doctrine, or the establish- 
ment of any view to which we ourselves may stand com- 
mitted, — can we hope to discover what God has really 
revealed. 

But if this be so, "organized Christianity" stands con- 
demned by its own necessities. Tor it cannot exist without 
creating bias, without demanding that certain inferences 
shall stand side by side with directly revealed truths, with- 
out committing men, in countless methods, to preconceived 
conclusions, under the power of which the Bible is scarcely 
ever read in a disinterested spirit. 

Just in proportion as these accretions can be shaken off'; 
just in proportion as Christian men can be brought to the 
study of Scripture without care for anything beyond the 
acquisition of truth ; just in so far, other things being equal, 
will they read alike, will they see eye to eye, will they view 
all things in their true proportions, and bow in common 



150 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

before an authority which will then be alike intelligible 
and indisputable. 

That the visible unity or the Church would eventu- 
ally be promoted by a provision for the regular and quiet 
discussion of all that bears upon the believer's hope by all 
who are competent to form and to utter the judgments of a 
wise and understanding heart, cannot, I think, be doubted. 
As things now stand, the ivitness of catholicity is lost. 

I know very well that those who are attached to denomi- 
nationalism think very little of this loss. Eomanism alone 
attaches prime importance to visible unity as a witness, — 
" It keeps and transmits a secret which it has not itself 
apparently understood." " The Church" must be ONE, if it 
is indeed " the fulness of Him who filleth all in all ;" for 
if we are complete in Him, He also is completed in us. 
His words are not only " You in Me," but also " I in you ;" 
the Head of the great body says not to any one of His 
members, " I have no need of thee." 

Denominationalism, perhaps one might say Protestantism, 
does not understand this. It does not understand that one 
part of the Church can never rise much above the level of the 
whole; that one section is ever acting and reacting on 
another ; that, to a great extent, the moral elevation or de- 
pression of the Church is dependent on the general moral 
condition of all who call themselves Christians. "The 
want of generous and exalted aims, the absence of lofty and 
kindly traditions, affect a whole community. It is hard to 
be always in opposition ; even the nobler mind will, in 
some degree, succumb to what it continually meets, becom- 
ing, like the dyer's hand, 'subdued to what it works in.' 
Ice cannot change to water, or water to steam, until the 
temperature of the whole has been raised to a certain level. 
Any heat short of the amount required to produce these 



INTELLECTUAL ENLARGEMENT. 151 

changes becomes latent, and disappears; it is absorbed in 
producing these changes. Who can say how much Chris- 
tian energy and love disappears, sinks below the surface, in 
this way, depressed by the low level of the surrounding 
atmosphere ? " 

"As the world is, the few earnest Christians scattered 
here and there in it — one in a family, a few in a city — 
are enough to keep the mass from freezing ; but their life, 
we may say, -is spent in keeping up their life : " — 

" A flower that, bold and patient, thrusts its -way 
Through stony chinks, lives on from day to day, 
But little shows of fragrance or of bloom." * 

That open ministry of some kind is as much needed for 
the moral development of the Church as it is for its intel- 
lectual advancement I shall attempt to show more at large 
in following pages. 

* "The Two Friends," by the author of " The Patience of Hope." 



152 



CHAPTER XL 

MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 

One of the most pressing wants of the Church at the pre- 
sent day is a truer and more, perfect ideal of the Divine life 
than that which prevails amongst vis. The want has been 
created by the ever-increasing approximation of the world 
to the Church in the outward, without its being really 
brought into subjection to the inward and living principles 
of the Gospel. It can be sullied only by the gradual 
elevation of the entire body to the Divine standard. 

Supposing, then, the question to be put, 'What is the 
true ideal to which the Church should be continually 
endeavouring to raise its members V 'What is the instruc- 
tion it should give to those who desire to enter by the 
" strait gate," and to walk in the " narrow way " ? ' our 
first business is to be agreed as to the answer. 

I am anxious to avoid anything like dogmatism on this 
subject, but I may be permitted to say that it has long 
been a growing, and is now a settled conviction with me, 
that the Church has not looked at this subject as it ought 
to have done ; that there is within the Christian oody no 
fixed opinion as to what is right or wrong in relation to 
many of the most practical questions that come before a 
man in life; that there is no platform on which such 
subjects can be quietly and seriously examined ; that the 
pulpit is not a fit place for discussions of this character; 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 153 

that no one man is qualified to decide such matters for a 
congregation ; that, whether rightly or not, there is a strong 
indisposition to attach much importance to the opinions of 
men who are supposed to have but a limited acquaintance 
with the actual difficulties of secular life ; that the religious 
press, even if it were open to such questions, would be an 
altogether unsuitable channel for their investigation, since 
it addresses itself for the most part to persons who, on 
various accounts, are ill-fitted to form any judgment on such 
topics ; and that, as a consequence of this state of things, 
young men rise into life unwarned and uninstructed regard- 
ing matters which are very soon found to have a most inti- 
mate bearing on the character of their religion. 

To prevent misapprehension, let me enumerate some of 
the points on which, as I believe, most of us are at sea, or 
— for that will perhaps better bring out my meaning — let 
me simply ask for an answer to the question, ' What is the 
believer's true relation to the world in which his lot is 
cast ? ' 

On this point, some, as is well known, have taken ground 
which by Christians generally is deemed unsound and ex- 
travagant. They have advocated nothing short of asceticism 
in certain directions ; they have denied it to be the duty of 
a Christian man to fill, if called upon to do so, the office 
of the magistrate ; they have refused to take any part in 
returning members to Parliament; they have abjured all 
interest in literature or in art ; they have declined to share 
in any effort that may be made to improve society, except- 
ing by the inculcation of the Gospel ; they have, in short, 
acted on their avowed conviction that the world, as it is, 
is given to Satan, and that Christians, being members of a 
better kingdom, and heirs to a higher inheritance, should 
abandon its concerns to the ungodly. Eousseau interpreted 



154 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

the New Testament in this way, and then objected to 
Christianity that, by teaching a man to regard himself as a 
citizen of another world, it diverted him from the perform- 
ance of his duties as a member of civil society. He says a 
society of true Christians would no longer be a society of 
men. 

Christianity as exhibited by the Egyptian anchorites of 
the early Church, or by the asceticism of later monks, might 
be liable to this charge, but it cannot be sustained for a 
moment against apostolic Christianity. This, as it came 
from Christ, never required a heathen civilization " to assist 
in securing a well-balanced development of the powers of 
the Christian system." In supposing that it did, Mr. 
Gladstone, like Eousseau, confounds primitive Christianity 
with its corrupted manifestations. 

There are those, however, who occupy a directly opposite 
position, and deny that a Christian, as such, is called upon 
to refrain from desiring any of the ordinary objects of 
human ambition so long as they are not in themselves sin- 
ful. Such persons maintain that Christ has sanctified the 
world and all its concerns ; that religion is intended not to 
sever us from any object of earthly interest, but to adorn 
ordinary life; that we must not, therefore, call anything 
common or unclean ; that our duty is to occupy as promi- 
nent a place as we can in the world's affairs, and to show 
how every station, however exalted, may serve to illustrate 
true piety, and to exhibit the beauty of holiness. 

Underneath these divergences of opinion unquestionably 
lie conflicting principles, and principles so influential and 
important, that as one or the other may be adopted will be 
the prevailing character of a man's life. Where, under such 
circumstances, shall a young man go for guidance ? ' To 
Scripture/ will of course be the reply. Let us then look 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 155 

for a few moments at the testimony of Holy Writ, in 
order to ascertain what is indeed the true position of a 
renewed man in relation to the world. 

It will not he necessary to examine every passage 
which may be supposed more or less to relate thereto. 
Some of these are merely negative ; others are more posi- 
tive in character : some obviously apply only to Christians 
living under heathen rule, while others are of universal 
application. All, indeed, convey lessons to which it is well 
that we should take heed, but for our present purpose it is 
only necessary to gather up such as Christians generally 
admit to be intended for the guidance of the believer in all 
ages. 

We note then, first of all, that the world is neither to be 
hated nor despised by the Christian. It is Christ's world. 
He created it (John i. 10) ; He loves it (iii. 16) ; He is its 
Saviour (John iv. 42) ; He takes away its sin (Johni. 29) ; 
He is its "life" and its "light" (John vi. 51; viii. 12). 
Christians, in like manner, are to be the " lights " and the 
" salt " of the earth, — they are to illuminate it and to pre- 
serve it from putrefaction (Matt. v. 13, 14). 

But the world knows not its true friends (John i. 10). 
Through ignorance it hates those whom it ought to love 
(John xv. 18). It is, indeed, a conquered world, and its 
subjection will one day be made manifest (John xvi. 33 ; 
Col. i. 19, 20) ; but until then, Christians, although in it 
(John xvii. 15), are not to be of it (John xv. 19 ; xvii. 16). 
They stand in a distinct and peculiar relation to the 
Eedeemer (John xiv. 19) ; they are crucified to the world 
(Gal. vi. 14) ; they are to keep themselves unspotted from 
it (Jas. i. 27) ; they are not to love it or its objects of ambi- 
tion (1 John ii. 15) ; they are to regard its friendship as 
enmity with God (Jas. iv. 4) ; they are, in short, to over- 



156 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

come it (1 John v. 4), being neither choked by its cares, 
crushed by its anxieties, nor bewildered by its seductions. 

It may, however, be said that the world here intended is 
not one in which Christian civilization predominates ; that 
the world meant is that which then was, — a heathen world, 
which could scarcely be touched without pollution. But 
this limitation of the word cannot be sustained. John 
expressly declares, as if to separate the question from all 
the accidents of civilization, " Whatsoever is not of the 
Father is of the world. All that is in the world, the lust 
of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is 
not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth 
away, and the lust thereof : but he that doeth the will of 
God abideth for ever." "No language more sweeping or 
comprehensive than that which he employs can be 
found. 

St. Paul, in almost every epistle, inculcates similar doc- 
trine ; Christ, he says, is now at the right hand of God in 
heavenly places, or " the heavenlies " (Ephes. i. 20) ; Chris- 
tians are there too, " quickened," " saved," * raised," even 
now sitting with Christ in these same " heavenly places," 
or " heavenlies " (Ephes. ii. 5, 6) ; as such, they are " dead " 
to the world (Col. iii. 3), "alive" unto Christ (Eom. vi. 11) ; 
by Him they are already " saved " (1 Cor. i. 18), and with 
Him already " risen " (Col. iii. 1) ; they are fellow-citizens 
with the saints, and their conversation is in heaven 
(Phil. iii. 20); they are of the household of God 
(Ephes. ii. 19). The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
addresses them as persons who have actually come "into 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalejn, and 
are the companions of the angels " (Heb. xii. 22) ; while 
St. Peter, in the same spirit, beseeches those to whom he 
writes, " as pilgrims and strangers," to abstain from evil 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 157 

(1 Pet. ii. 11) ; remembering that they are kept by the power 
of God for a salvation one day to be fully revealed. 

That much of this language is figurative cannot be ques- 
tioned, but it is not therefore the less real. It means, if 
it means anything, that in heart, in affection, in all that 
constitutes the inner man, Christians are not of this 
world ; that they divell elsewhere ; that they are but so- 
journers in a world which is soon to pass away. 

The idea conveyed seems to be this, that believers ought 
to regard themselves as having, in a figure, both ascended 
and descended : ascended with their Lord into the heavens ; 
descended as His representatives to benefit and bless the 
earth by their self-denial, their holy example, their life, 
and self-sacrifice ; — materially, in the body, spiritually, in 
heaven, waiting for the redemption of the body, to be 
entirely and perfectly with Him whom they love and for 
whom they live. 

" Heaven opened to the soul while yet on earth ; 
Earth forced on the soul's use while yet in heaven." 

This seems to be the root-thought of the Apostle, and it 
implies that the renewed man is one who, instead of being 
content with gazing up to heaven as to a land afar off, 
which he hopes one day to reach, ought habitually to look 
on earth from heaven, and to regard his temporary residence 
in the world as at once disciplinary and vicarious, intended 
to perfect his own character and to benefit others. 

We come into the world, not to enjoy a life which is to 
be chastened by suffering ; but to suffer in a world of sin, 
amid many enjoyments vouchsafed for its alleviation. It 
must be so, on account of the great moral ends of existence, 
and they are happy who early learn to recognize the fact, 
and thankfully to acquiesce in all that it involves. To 
such sorrow can never be overwhelming. 






158 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

Such an ideal is certainly a very lofty one, and hard to 
be reached ; but never let us forget that it is far better to 
hold to a true and high ideal, however much we may come 
short of it, than to be content with a false and low one, 
liowever much we may live above it. 

To this lofty calling, the morality of the Gospel, as laid 
down by our Lord in the sermon on the mount, singularly 
corresponds. His disciples are to be poor in spirit, meek, 
and as eager for the right (righteousness) as a hungry man 
is for bread, or a thirsty one for water. They must be 
merciful, pure in heart (sound-hearted), and peacemakers, 
accounting themselves blessed when persecuted, reviled, 
and falsely accused for righteousness' sake. 

They are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the 
world, winning glory to God by their holy life before man. 
They are neither to lower nor to tamper with one tittle of 
the Divine law, but to regard it as extending to the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. If unforgiving, they 
are not to venture to offer sacrifice. They are neither to 
swear, nor to take revenge, nor to retaliate. They are to 
submit patiently to wrong, to love their enemies, to do 
good in secret, and to pray with the door shut. They are 
to lay up no treasure on earth which could win their 
hearts. They are to live by faith, and to have no anxieties 
or carking cares. 

They are to be kind and candid in all their judgments 
of others, — severe only on themselves. They are not to 
coarsen or cheapen their high calling by giving that which 
is holy unto dogs ; nor are they to enkindle the anger of 
the brutish by casting before them pearls, the worth of 
which such men cannot comprehend. They are • in all 
things to depend on God, and they are invariably to do 
unto others as they would that men should do unto them. 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 159 

By this " strait gate " and " narrow way " alone, says the 
Lord, is " life " to be found ; and anxiously are they bid- 
den to beware of false prophets teaching otherwise, lest 
they should eventually be found to have built their expec- 
tations for the future, not on the rock, but on mere sand, 
which would in the day of trial slip from under them. 

Nowhere are these " counsels of perfection," as they 
have recently been called, lowered. Nowhere is it implied 
that in after ages they would be somewhat modified, so as 
to adapt them to any given state of society. Yet nowhere 
are they supposed to be practicable in the world as it is, 
except in the case of individuals who are prepared to 
sacrifice self-interest, reputation, nay, life itself, in order to 
follow the Master. 

Some other injunctions were evidently not intended for 
all, but only for those to whom they were addressed. We 
have an instance of this kind in our Lord's reply to the 
young man who came to him saying, " Good Master, what 
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? " Jesus 
said, " If thou wilt be perfect, [i. e., be ready to follow Me to 
crucifixion, as these are doing,] go sell that thou hast, and 
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven : 
and come and follow Me. And the young man went away 
sorrowful : for he had great possessions." 

We have here an instance of the distinction drawn 
between disciples and mere followers. All men are not 
called to abandon their possessions in order to prove their 
faith in Christ ; but he who wished to follow the Lord 
when He was on earth had to do it " through great tribula- 
tion," and was therefore obliged practically to abandon his 
property. Such periods have from time to time recurred 
in the history of the Church, and probably will do so again. 
Through unwillingness to pay the price needful to attain 



160 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

discipleship the young ruler lost the "great reward? but 
there is not a syllable to show that he was abandoned to 
Satan for ever. 

The sermon on the mount and the exhortations of the 
Apostles explain each other. The Lord lays down rules of 
life for the Christian, obedience to which is never sup- 
posed to be practicable in the world as it is, except in the 
case of individuals who are prepared, when called upon to 
do so, to sacrifice self-interest, reputation, nay, life itself, in 
the service. The Apostles accept the obligation in all its 
fulness, and therefore, as we have seen, speak of the Chris- 
tian as a man dead to the world, who has already risen, 
and who is even how a fellow-citizen with the saints above. 

And now the question returns, " What does all this in- 
volve ? " Is the Christian to have nothing to do with the 
world ? Is he to abandon its government to the wicked ? 
Is he, because he has a citizenship above, to deny the obli- 
gation to fulfil the ordinary duties of a citizen on earth ? 
If so, why is he on earth at all ? How can he either en- 
lighten or purify it unless he dwells in it, and more or less 
mingles, as his Lord did, with all classes ? And yet, if he 
does thus take part in its concerns, how can he be dead 
to it? 

Simply, as I imagine, by separating that to which he is 
called as a duty, from that which he chooses as a satisfaction. 
The first always implies more or less of self-denial ; the last 
is but the gratification of a desire. 

Illustrations will readily present themselves. Whatever 
distaste a Christian man may have for a trade or a profes- 
sion, duty commonly requires not only that he should engage 
in one for the sustenance of those who depend upon him, 
but that he should be " diligent " in his occupation, and be- 
come in it an example of integrity, of faith, and of purity. 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 161 

His inclination, on the other hand, may be to give up his 
whole soul to this calling ; his ambition to become rich by 
its means ; but no apology can be framed for yielding to 
this 'temptation, since he is under no Christian obligation to 
place either himself or his family in any given position in 
life, while he is under the highest obligation to stand loose 
to the things of time, and to live, to study, and to teach on 
the behalf of Christ and the Church. 

A Christian man may indeed find himself, without any 
desire of his own, called to office, to the possession of wealth, 
or to the exercise of political or other influence. The re- 
sponsibility involved thereby may be painful to him, but 
he is not, therefore, to evade the obligation. He is, on the 
contrary, to fulfil it as one who is discharging a trust con- 
scientiously, laboriously, and faithfully. But the very same 
sense of right which obliges him to accept and to fulfil as 
duty any trust which may devolve upon him, forbids him to 
seek either rank, or wealth, or power. And for obvious 
reasons. He cannot be injured by the performance of any 
obligation, which he discharges only because he honestly 
believes it is imposed upon him by God. He cannot but be 
injured by the indulgence of any ambition which requires, 
as conditions of success, too great a dedication of time and 
thought ; solicitations for the favour of men ; the sanction- 
ing of anything that may be in a Christian either wrong or 
doubtful ; or conformity to customs, habits, or standards of 
conduct, because they are prevalent in a world which, how- 
ever varnished by a Christian civilization, is itself at heart 
alienated from God. 

Is it too much to say that an honest recognition of these 
distinctions would revolutionize the opinions of Christian 
society ; would interfere greatly with many a man's worldly 
interests ; would often lead him to be regarded as eccentric, 

M 



162 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

and therefore occasion his being passed by in favour of 
more moderate and reasonable persons ? Such a man, no 
longer feeling himself bound to run the race of worldly 
success neck to neck with men of another mind, would, in 
all probability, fail to enrich his family ; for his time and 
thoughts would be only partially given to business, a por- 
tion of each day being always redeemed for higher ends. 
And yet it seems difficult to suppose that anything short of 
this can be implied in being a pilgrim and stranger in the 
world, or with having a life hid with Christ in God. 

I am quite aware that many excellent Christians will 
think that I have gone too far. I am by no means pre- 
pared to insist that I have put this matter of the believer's 
relation to the world precisely as it should be put. I may 
have overlooked considerations of a contrary character 
which are fitted greatly to modify what I have advanced. 
All that I say is, that these, and many other kindred ques- 
tions, ought to be examined and discussed — not through the 
public press, for reasons that I have already stated; not 
from the pulpit to mixed audiences, for whom they are un- 
adapted ; but in the Church, and by men who, themselves 
mingling in the world, have been, or are likely soon to be, 
in circumstances which must render clear and fixed views 
on such subjects of the highest practical importance to 
them. 

I have said elsewhere that the Christian is a man who is 
placed by God under certain obligations, which, although 
imperative on him as an individual, are not applicable to 
society at large, to a nation, or to a Government. Let me 
illustrate this statement. 

The law of Christ certainly seems to be clear in relation 
to non-resistance. The Christian is not to strive. He is to 
return good for evil. He is to overcome evil with good. 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 103 

But this law is not intended for mixed communities, or for 
nations; nor could any State be governed for a single year 
on this principle. War, with all its miseries, is to nations, 
(men being what they are,) frequently productive of more 
good than evil. " By mere force of order and authority, the 
army is the salvation of myriads ; and men who, under 
other circumstances, would have sunk into lethargy or dis- 
sipation, are redeemed into noble life by a service which at 
once summons and directs their energies. ISTo nation ever 
yet enjoyed a protracted and triumphant peace without 
receiving in its own bosom ineradicable seeds of future 
decline." The fact is, "both peace and war are noble or 
ignoble according to their kind and occasion f and in like 
manner, the duty of non-resistance to many forms of wrong 
turns entirely upon the motive which occasions it, and con- 
sequently upon the character of the man who abstains. 

Let no one be stumbled at this attempt to show that the 
same law may be binding upon an individual believer, and 
yet not at all binding on the mixed body that constitutes 
a nation. Bather let him meditate on the fact that while 
nations, as such, are under law, and will be rewarded or 
punished according to their obedience or disobedience, the 
Church of the redeemed is not under law, but under grace. 
Hence the difference of their codes, of their lives, and of 
their inheritance in the future. 

As a branch of magistracy, war, when needful, is com- 
manded ; for cases continually occur in which, without it, 
the ruler cannot be a * terror to evil doers," or " a praise 
and reward to them that do well/' Yet we are distinctly 
told, he is not to bear the sword in vain. 

War cannot be helped : " for if civilized states will not 
study war, and stand in an offensive attitude, then, as 
heretofore, the barbarous people with which the earth 



164 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

teems, allured on by the scent of prey, will come down 
upon them like the wolf upon the fold, and cast the world 
long centuries back into the dreary waste of ignorance and 
lawlessness. It is as vain to talk of peace and peace 
societies in the present dispensation, as to talk of a cloud- 
less sky and an un tempestuous sea. And it is vain to 
decry the calling of a soldier, as if it were not as necessary 
to the well-being of any State as the calling of a hunter and 
a husbandman : the first to bridle savage natures and arrest 
ambitious men ; the second, to clear the woods and coverts 
of destructive creatures ; and the third, to clear the earth of 
thorns and briers and bristly forests. These vain theories 
of a federal union of kingdoms to abolish war ; and of the 
gradual influence of the people over their rulers preventing 
wars; and of the common interest which commerce en- 
genders gradually making war to cease, are all vague and 
unsound, and based upon a false assumption, that man is 
able to alter the iron conditions into which the Fall has 
brought him, and in which the Almighty Will doth keep 
him till the Eedeemer shall come to take possession of the 
purchased inheritance." * 

Again, Christian obligation to the poor, and the laws of 
political economy, can, as I think, never be altogether re- 
conciled; since however sound these laws may be, the 
economical end is by them alone regarded, without taking 
account of its bearing upon the higher ends to which it 
should minister. Political economists, it must always be 
remembered, do not make the laws they expound; they 
simply give us a knowledge of those controlling influences, 
good or bad, moral or immoral, which regulate the produc- 
tion and distribution of those fruits of labour which sup- 
port and humanize the life of man. They simply tell us, as 

* Edward Irving on " Nature "Worship — its Falseness." 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 165 

a fact, that by strict adherence to the laws of demand and 
supply, and by each man regarding his individual interest 
alone, whatever suffering may fall on the weak or unskilful, 
the general interests of the community will be best secured, 
and national wealth be most largely augmented. 

When, therefore, they bid us, in the employment of la- 
bour, as in everything else, to look to our own interest 
exclusively, to buy, in all cases, in the cheapest, and to sell 
in the dearest market, they but lay before us the secret of 
material prosperity. But such a course is not Christian. 
The individual believer who listens to the voice of Christ 
must, at whatever cost, " look not on his own things only, 
but on the things of others ;" he must do unto others as he 
would that they, if he were in their circumstances, should do 
unto him ; he must put his shoulders under another's bur- 
dens, and he must bear (suffer by) the infirmities of the 
weak. 

But he will very soon find, if he does so, that he cannot 
always either buy in the cheapest or sell in the dearest 
market ; that he must be content to be sometimes regarded 
by his neighbours as a fool ; and that he must not unfre- 
quently suffer losses which others avoid. To what extent 
he is called upon to suffer must be decided by each Chris- 
tian for himself under the light of the law of love. When- 
ever this is honestly done, it will probably not be found so 
difficult as might at first be supposed to find the point at 
which he may lawfully stop. Here, again, however, the 
wisdom and experience of other Christians is often needed 
as a guide, and a Church, rightly constituted, ought to fur- 
nish it, as a part of the education given to its younger 
members. 

Let us apply the principle now laid down a little further. 
The necessities which arise out of competition in ti.^L- ire 



166 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

often altogether inconsistent with Christian love ; yet, 
unless the pillars of national wealth are to he withdrawn, 
and society to be involved in ruin, the principle of com- 
petition must be sustained and acted upon. How far, 
under such a state of things, a Christian is called upon to 
modify his action, or to pursue a course different from that 
of others, is a question to which I do not profess to be able 
to give a satisfactory answer. 

Again, men of business oftentimes insist — I do not 
undertake to say with what amount of truth — that it is 
impossible to succeed in life without more or less violating 
the law of righteousness. " No one," says a recent writer 
of this class, " but those who have opportunities of getting 
behind the scenes in London, or in some other great com- 
mercial town, can have any idea of the deceit which is car- 
ried on. Many a respectable man of business would not 
tell a direct lie himself, but he will suffer those about him 
to do it wholesale, and it is surprising how ready people are 
to lie on others 7 behalf. I have constantly to remind my ser- 
vants that they have enough to do to answer for their own 
sins, without gratuitously adding to their number by lying, 
as they foolishly think, to serve me."* 

Mr Jowitt, with singular candour and frankness, says, 
nothing can be more certain than that " in daily life cases 
often occur in which we must do as other men do, and act 
upon a general understanding, even though unable to recon- 
cile a particular practice to the letter of truthfulness, or even 
to individual conscience." It is " hard," he adds, " in such 
cases to lay down a general rule ; but in general we should 
be suspicious of any conscientious scruples in which other 
good men do not share. We shall do right to make a large 
allowance for the perplexities and entanglements of human 

* " Business Life ; the Experiences of a London Tradesman :" Houlston & Co. 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 167 

things ; we should observe that men of strong minds brush 
away our scruples." 

That many Christian men reason in this way, although few 
may care to avow it, is unquestionable. And not without a 
certain amount of apparent justification. A scrupulous con- 
science is very seldom a healthy one. The opinions of good 
men, generally, ought to have much weight with us in the 
practical decisions of life. It is every way most undesirable 
to become isolated, and by any step, however conscien- 
tiously it may be taken, to disable ourselves from acting 
with bodies of Christian men, whom we cannot but love. 
Many a man, who sharply condemns this sort of casuistry 
in a clergyman, regularly acts upon it in business ; and 
many a devout woman, who habitually expresses her in- 
dignation at its influence over a tradesman, bows implicitly 
to its dictates when enforced in what she calls "good 
society." 

The truth is, whether we recognize it or not, that the 
greater part of the morality practised day by day by all 
classes is purely conventional. We all shrink from adopting 
any course which seems to condemn others ; sometimes, like 
religious slave-owners, playing our pleasant deceptions off 
in the face of the plainest truths, and always forgetful that 
we are using an instrument subtle enough and elastic 
enough to accommodate practical life to any standard which 
may, at any period, happen to prevail in Christianized 
society. Thus it is man lowers the heavenly to the earthly ; 
and, whether a preacher or a hearer, too often contrives to 
depress the Divine law to that which he considers the 
absolute requirements of ordinary life. 

The scepticism of the eighteenth century sprang up in a 
soil of this character; that of the nineteenth, destined, I 
fear, to prove eventually more desolating than its prede- 



168 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

cessor, hecause connected vntli far more activity of mind,, and 
a deeper earnestness in relation to life and its responsibilities, 
can only be checked by an end being put to the strange 
contrasts between words and things which now so perplex 
men. 

The true answer to all casuistry regarding obligation is> 
that Christ has recognized every difficulty and summed up 
his reply in the words, " Straight is the gate." Surely it is 
high time, as Mr. Buskin tells us, that we ceased talking 
" as if our religion was good for show, but would not work," 
as if " the laws of the devil were the only practicable ones," 
as if " the laws of God were merely a form of poetical lan- 
guage." When shall we learn that " sixpences have to be 
lost, as well as lives, under a sense of duty ; that the market 
may have its martyrdoms as well as the pulpit ; and trade its 
heroisms as well as war ? " When shall we perceive that the 
true distinction between the Church and the world is to be 
found, not in the diversity of their amusements, but in the 
peculiarity of obedience which marks the true disciple ; in a 
line of conduct which, if it sometimes incapacitates for suc- 
cessful struggle in fields of worldly ambition, carries with it, 
as the reward of self-denial, a " crown," a " prize," a royal 
inheritance in the world that is to come ? 

Again, asceticism is not Christianity. On the contrary, 
it is, as a principle, opposed to that which is best. God 
gives us " richly to enjoy," and never asks us to give up 
anything, except that we may thereby be fitted to receive 
that which is far better. Even great riches may be law- 
fully acquired or inherited by a good man. Sometimes in- 
deed it is difficult to avoid this prosperous termination of 
a life of industry, perseverance, and honourable skill. Kay, 
the acquisition of property may, and often does, call forth 
gome most valuable qualities ; its possession, again, brings 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 109 

with it both mental and moral advantages; and its 
right disposal is to some men an important part of their 
probation. And yet every wise man knows that the love of 
getting is one of the greatest snares in life. 

The same thing is true in relation to literature and art. 
To treat these things with contempt, or to regard them with- 
dislike, as foes to spirituality of mind, is mere narrowness. 
It is simply to close the eye of the mind to what is going 
on around us, and to commit a folly not unlike that which 
would be perpetrated by a man who, for fear of the corrupting 
influences of what he might behold, should voluntarily de- 
prive himself of sight. Yet those are striking words of Mr. 
Buskin's — than whom.no man, perhaps, ever lived who cared 
more for art, or has done more to make others care for it — 
"The more I have examined this subject, the more dangerous 
I have found it to dogmatize. One great fact first meets me. 
I cannot answer for the experience of others, but / never yet 
met a Christian whose heart was thoroughly set upon the 
world to come, and, so far as human judgment could pro- 
nounce, perfect before God, who cared about art at all. I 
have known several noble Christian men who loved it in- 
tensely, but in them there was always traceable some en- 
tanglement of the thoughts with the matters of this world, 
causing them to fall into strange distresses and doubts, and 
often leading them into what they themselves would con- 
fess to be errors in understanding, or even failures in duty. 
As a general fact, I have never known a man who seemed 
altogether right and calm in faith, who seriously cared 
about art." 

Here too, and still more in connection with the litera- 
ture of the day, is a field in which wise and mdtivated men 
might by their counsels be of the greatest service to the 
ardent and inexperienced, were there but a platform from 



170 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

which, without assumption and without personality, they 
might from time to time express convictions, as God led 
them to fed for, and desire to help, their younger brethren 
and sisters. From such, a word in season might to some 
be invaluable, were it only to remind them that all that is 
beautiful is not good ; and that " the sensation of beauty, 
not of necessity either sensual or intellectual, is dependent 
both for its truth and intensity on a pure, right, and open 
state of the heart." 

"The glory of the terrestrial," writes the admirable 
author from whom I have so often quoted, " is one ; the 
glory of the celestial is another. The triumph of nature 
lies in the carrying out of its own will, in identification 
with some great object, in adhesion to some lofty aim. The 
triumph of Christ is placed in the subjugation of that very 
will, in acquiescence, in disentanglement, in the stretching 
forth of the hands, so that another may gird and carry us 
whither we would not. Does not every Christian's daily 
experience prove that the holding of the one thing needful 
involves the letting go of many things lovely and desirable, 
and that in thought as well as in action he must go on 
ever narrowing his way, avoiding much V 

We may not, she says, be worse than our fathers, but 
the fear is that " we have slipped, as a Christian people, 
into a position far below the one given us of God ; and 
that while we are ready enough to accuse ourselves of 
want of diligence in making our calling and election sure, 
it is by no means certain that we have as yet, in the words 
of the Apostle, seen our calling, and attained to a just ap- 
preciation of its hope and power. Of many things which 
have to do with the deeper and more intimate relations of 
the human soul with God, we willingly remain ignorant." 
In relation to the passive graces especially we have 



MOBAL DEVELOPMENT. 171 

ranch to learn. " These are the miracles of the New Cove- 
nant. While many of the active virtues are merely the 
natural energies transfigured, and. changed into a higher 
likeness, — the earthly made to bear the image of the 
heavenly, — these, ' unfed by nature's soil,' have their root 
in Christ, and in Him is their fruit found."* 

Once more I say, these are the subjects on which Chris- 
tians require guidance ; a guidance which Churches ought 
to give, but do not, and as things are cannot give, for 
neither the Pulpit nor the Press can meet the necessities 
of the case. 

The point to be looked at is, the hearing which a modi- 
fied form of open ministry might be expected to have in 
the elevation of the Christian character. That it would 
accomplish much must not of course be assumed; expe- 
rience alone can prove its value. But it may surely be 
hoped, that if it worked at all it would do something to 
form and to fix a higher Christian ideal than now prevails ; 
that it would rescue the peculiar moralities of the Gospel 
from the conventionalisms which now choke them, while 
it would create and sustain within the Christian body a 
public opinion of its own, — a judgment of things which the 
world, however Christianized, will never accept, but which 
is nevertheless in strict accordance with the teaching of 
the Lord. 

I have said, " if it worked at all," because I am anything 
but insensible to the enormous difficulties which would 
have to be overcome before any open ministry worthy of 
the name could be established. It could not be tacked on 
to existing arrangements. It could not be made to con- 
sist with services like those which now obtain among us. 
It must arise out of a deep and settled conviction that the 

* The " Patience of Hope," by the author of " A Present Heaven." 



172 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



perfecting of the believer is the one great object of the 
Christian ministry ; that for this purpose the . Bible was 
given (2 Tim. iii. 16), and that for this end chiefly, as we 
have already seen, were Churches called into existence. 

Further, open ministry supposes a willingness on the 
part of Christian fellowships to risk much in the way of 
income, popularity, and standing in the world. It supposes 
more than luillingness on the part of pastors to resign ex- 
clusive privilege, and to place themselves on a level with 
their brethren ; for unless they diligently sought out and 
encouraged suitable persons to unite with them in teaching; 
unless they pressed the performance of the duty as a high 
Christian obligation; unless they themselves habitually 
kept as much as possible in the background ; unless, in 
short, they earnestly desired the change, and were led to 
perceive that whatever trials might attend its introduction 
it would ultimately be as great a blessing to themselves as to 
their people, all attempts to establish it must end in failure. 

Let obstacles to the working of open ministry, however, 
be what they may, ' it must not be forgotten, as Vinet well 
puts it, that "we can never fairly charge to a principle the 
difficulties and hindrances that attend a return to that 
principle if it has been long mistaken or forgotten ; or if 
the contrary principle, organized long ago in society, has 
penetrated all its parts and modified all its elements." 

That it would he a blessing to all, can scarcely be 
doubted. And to none more than to the faithful minister. 
For as things are, neither deacon nor elder, however willing 
they may be, can do much to relieve his toil, simply 
because people naturally wish to be consoled or advised by 
the man whose preaching has been made beneficial to 
them, — by the individual alone with whose mind and 
heart they have so often been brought into communion. 



MORAL DEVJELOFMEXT. 173 

The extension of teaching would be the extension of 
this sympathy. Others "beside the minister would -then 
awaken sensibility and affection, and on this account 
be welcomed like himself in the hour of sorrow. One 
might be found specially acceptable to the poor of the 
flock; another to the young; a third to the aged, — gifts 
differing as of old, — and thus channels of usefulness 
now closed would open in a way calculated at one and 
the same time to relieve the pastor and to enrich the 
flock. 

It is surely encouraging to find that, in our own day, so 
eminent a preacher and leader of men as Dr. Candlish 
should have said, even in reference to modern Brethrenism, 
that a system which should " set aside official distinctions 
in the Church (by which he means a system in which 
ministry should not be the exclusive work of one man), 
were it only practicable, would be the beau ideal, the per- 
fection of Christian association and organization." He 
tells us, " it is the necessity and not tlu glory of the Church 
on earth that she must have her office-bearers," and he 
sustains their appointment only because he cannot rely, 
and thinks the Lord has not judged it safe to rely alto- 
gether on such a general and spontaneous alacrity and 
ability as that arrangement would imply.* 

These admissions are invaluable. For surely it is reason- 
able to conclude that the system which is confessedly the 
best in the abstract, — " the beau ideal, the perfection of 
Christian organization," — might be established if it were 
not discountenanced by a perverted public opinion, and 
superseded by ecclesiastical machinery, more favourable to 
natural indolence and selfishness; if weakness, the ne- 
cessary consequence of existing methods, had not so largely 

* " The Christian Sacrifice." By Kobert S. Candlish, D.D., p. 50. 



174 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



supervened as to render any return to the old paths appa- 
rently impossible. 

Perhaps all that can be done at present is to endeavour 
to excite a willingness to investigate ; to enkindle, if it be 
possible, a disposition to inquire, not for what may be con- 
sidered as most expedient, but for what is true ; not for 
what may be regarded as most practicable, but for what 
God has sanctioned ; to inquire, not in the hope of being 
able to graft here or there, on the old stock, some new de- 
vice or other, but simply to ascertain what is right, and, 
when this is ascertained, to spread such conviction without 
reference as yet to anything beyond the propagation of true 
thought, since in no other way but by the growth of true 
thought can the interests of godliness ever be permanently 
advanced. 

All hasty procedures in what is called a practical direc- 
tion are both unpractical and evil, since they commonly 
proceed either from impatience or self-will. Not till right 
ideas have made considerable way, not till an atmosphere 
has been created in which new practices will work 
healthily, is it either wise or right to attempt their intro- 
duction. "Few persons, however," — as has been well said 
by Mr. Matthew Arnold, in his admirable essay " On the 
Functions of Criticism," — "and very few Englishmen indeed, 
can understand or appreciate such a course. The cry of 
the present day on all hands is construct. They who 
join in this cry forget that, for construction, 'two powers 
must concur — the power of the man, and the power of the 
moment/ He who is destined in the long run to accom- 
plish most in the correction of the evils which now oppress 
us, is the man who is most willing to wait for suitable 
materials before he begins to build, or, if needful, to pro- 
vide them for others ; who is able to hold a truth firmly 



MORAL DEVELOPMENT. 175 

without seeking to revolutionize the world with it ; who is 
content to handle it disinterestedly, and without reference 
to any party objects whatever; who steadily refuses to 
lend himself to ulterior considerations ; whose aim is first 
to know the best that can be known, and then to create, by 
the agency of this knowledge, a current of true and fresh 
ideas ; the man, above all, who never ceases to protest with 
all his might against whatever makes truth subserve 
interests not its own; whatever stifles it with practical 
considerations; whatever makes practical ends the first 
thing, and true thought the second thing." If we are at 
once earnest and honest in such a course, we shall neither 
be deterred from investigation, nor turn away in despon- 
dency, because the path we have to pursue may be strewed 
with the wrecks or whitened by the bones of previous 
explorers. 



i<0 



CHAPTER XII. 

CONCLUSION. 

A Ministry of the Church may exist in one of three 
forms. It may arise out of the Tiecessities of a particular 
time, such, for instance, as when Christians are scattered 
by persecution. It may, as a sort of after-growth, appear 
in the form of a supplement to a more regular and even 
" established" order of public worship. It may, in connec- 
tion with a pastorate, become the life-blood of a community, 
itself the source and support of a true Christian vitality. 

In the first of these forms it has often appeared. The 
Rev. Dr. Hanna, in a sketch of the early history of Pro- 
testantism in Prance, found in his useful volume on 
"Wyciiffe and the Huguenots," calls the period of Pro- 
testantism in which it existed the " age of purity" The 
" reformed," he says, " had as yet no organization, civil or 
ecclesiastical ; they had no church, no creed, no fixed form 
of worship. They had entered into no political alliance 
with any party in the state. It was a quiet, hidden move- 
ment in the hearts of men thirsting for religious truth, for 
peace of conscience, for purity of heart and life. They 
sought each other out, and met to help each other on. 
But it was in small bands, in closets with closed doors, in 
the murky lanes of the city, in the lonely hut of the way- 
side, in the gorge of the mountain, in the heart of the 
forest, that they met to study the Scriptures together, to 



CONCLUSION. 177 

praise and to pray. They did so at the peril of their lives ; 
and the greatness of the peril guarded the purity of the 
motive. Ordinarily they had no educated ministry!' 

In the second form a Church ministry obtains to this day 
in Wurtemburg. In that kingdom, for nearly 260 years, 
an institution, if it may be so called, has existed of a 
very peculiar character, viz., meetings of the laity on 
the sabbath and otherwise for reading the Scriptures and 
prayer. 

Out of the thousand parishes into which Wurtemburg is 
divided, the large proportion have such meetings. In the 
city of Stuttgardt there are three distinct assemblies of this 
character. "When the late Sir Culling Eardley visited one of 
them, he tells us that at least 200 persons were in the room. 
The meeting was presided over by a venerable man of the 
middle class, who was surrounded at a higher table by from 
fifteen to twenty of the most respected Christians of the 
place. "This" said a clergyman who had accompanied 
him to the meeting, " is the true Church of Wurtemburg, 
and the blessing of it to the country cannot be over-estimated." 

Prelate von Kapff, of Stuttgardt, thus spoke of these 
meetings at the conference of the Evangelical Alliance, 
held at Berlin in 1857 : — " You will be astonished," said 
he, addressing the assembled clergy, " when you hear 
how simple peasants, journeymen, tradesmen, and officials 
expound the Word of God, communicate their experience, 
and edify one another. This I believe is the external 
appearing of the universal priesthood ; and I can only beg 
the brethren who are pastors to promote such private meet- 
ings in their flocks, and strive in such assemblies to educate 
a people who shall be independent and of full age, who can 
exercise these glorious functions; a people that is not 
dependent upon us; whom we esteem as fellow- workers 

x 



178 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

in the vineyard of the Lord, and of whom we may learn. 
I confess here that / have learnt in such assemblies a theo- 
logy which was an essential addition to that which I 
brought with me from the University. It has often very 
much quickened me, when I have heard from the mouth of 
a peasant or a journeyman things which I have certainly 
known before, but which, as an experience, have warmed 
my heart within me, and suggested new thoughts." 

The third form is that which I am now anxious to pro- 
mote. Allow me then, my reader, with this object, to re- 
capitulate what I have advanced, in order that the ground I 
take may be more clearly seen, and the logical connection of 
the chapters be more distinctly appreciated. USTo part of 
what I have said will be understood if the idea, as a ivhole, 
is not grasped. 

I commenced by observing that the great peculiarity of 
the Primitive Church was the entire absence in it of any 
organization for aggressive purposes ; that the work of evan- 
gelization was never entrusted to any man without his 
being gifted with special power to fulfil it ; that the apostle 
Paul repeatedly asserts that the command of the Lord, 
" Preach the Gospel to every creature," had teen fulfilled in 
his day, and it is clear that both he and the other apostles, 
with the Church as a whole, lived and died in the belief 
that the Lord Jesus would very shortly appear in the clouds 
of heaven, and take unto Himself the kingdom. 

I then noticed the fact that after the death of the last of 
the apostles a great change came over the Church in rela- 
tion both to its beliefs and methods of action ; that the ex- 
pectation of the immediate return of Christ then passed 
away, and was succeeded by the conviction that it was the 
purpose of God, by the sanctification of human talent, and 
by the ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit, eventually 



CONCLUSION. 179 

and speedily to subdue the world to the Redeemer ; that in 
the strength of this conviction the ancient Church organ- 
ized, framed a theology, allowed power of all kinds to 
centre in a clergy, and finally, by these means, overthrew 
Paganism and conquered the Empire. 

It was then observed that the Eoman Catholic Church 
of our own day is the inheritor of this ecclesiastical system 
and of the principles it embodies ; the chief of which is 
that the Church's first obligation to Christ is the conversion 
of the world, at least to the full extent that human instru- 
mentality can effect it. 

I have maintained that this is not the case ; but that 
while it is the duty of every believing man to spread Chris- 
tianity in the way appointed, God has not devolved upon 
the Church, either Eomish or Reformed, or in any way 
made dependent on human effort, the salvation of others. 
I have given somewhat at length nine distinct reasons for 
coming to so unusual a conclusion, and I have replied to 
what I have supposed would be the kind of remonstrance 
that might be offered by those who differ from me. 

Proceeding with this line of thought I have endeavoured 
to show what is the precise relation God intended the 
Bible to have to an ungodly world, and what the true 
idea of the Christian ministry. 

I have regarded ministry as of two kinds, viz., to the 
world, and for the Church, — the first to be accomplished by 
the evangelist or preacher of the Gospel, acting independ- 
ently of all Church organization, and separating his message 
from the Christian privilege involved in prayer and praise ; 
the last to have for its sole aim the perfecting of the 
saints. 

For the accomplishment of this great end I have 
attempted to show that the pulpit is not sufficient ; that 



180 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

the exclusive ministry of a pastor, however devoted he 
may be, is not enough ; but that it must be accompanied 
by the ministry of the Church itself, — by that mutual in- 
struction under which alone adults can be educated for the 
work God has given them to do. 

I have endeavoured to show that in attempting to carry 
out this order of things we are but following the apostolic 
pattern ; that our influence for good on others will always 
be in proportion to our own faith and love, to the magnetic 
pcnver that goes forth from us, and attracts to us the care- 
less and the wavering ; that a modified and well-regulated 
open ministry, accompanied by a revival of the Apostolic 
Pastorate, would be likely to promote a wider and truer 
communion of all believers than is yet possible, — to pre- 
vent much of that casting of pearls before swine which is 
now so common, and to meet better than anything else the 
exigencies of the day in which we live. Objections of 
various kinds have been answered as they have arisen. 

The intellectual enlargement of the children of God, and 
their moral development by the formation of a truer and 
more perfect ideal of the Divine life than that which as yet 
prevails amongst us, and by the cultivation of graces now 
frequently cast into the shade, would, I believe, be the cer- 
tain result of the change, if only Christian fellowships were 
willing to risk the loss of income and of status which might, 
for a time at least, have to be endured, and if pastors could 
be brought to see that in resigning exclusive privileges, and 
in diligently searching for and encouraging suitable persons 
to unite with them in ministry, they were laying the 
foundation of future peace and blessedness, and helping 
on the true kingdom of the Lord. 

In conclusion, I have referred to some of the forms in 
which an open ministry has worked with the happiest re- 



CONCLUSION. 181 

suits, and I have now only to add a few additional con- 
siderations which, pressing on my own mind, seem to ask 
for utterance. 

I repeat, then, that to me the Bible clearly teaches that 
beyond the exercise of that kind of influence which goes 
forth from every godly man who adorns his profession ; be- 
yond the general proclamation of the great facts of the 
Gospel both at home and abroad in witness; and beyond 
imparting to the poor, benefits which have well been termed 
" the dues of humanity," the Saviour does not commit to 
Christians, even instrumental^, the salvation of their fel- 
lows ; that while it is their imperative duty to do all they 
can to commend the Gospel to others by exhibiting its fruits, 
and to welcome all who seek acquaintance with it, He re- 
serves the great work of the world's subjection in His own 
hands ; that He performs it only by the Divine power He 
possesses ; and that He does this, in all ages, in accordance 
with a sovereignty which, although we may not be able to 
understand it, is identical with love, and therefore best for 
the creature. 

It is needful that we should see this, or we shall fail to 
perceive that our call is to be, rather than to do ; that, being 
what we ought to be, there will be little danger of our fail- 
ing to do what we are called upon to perform ; that truth, 
rather than triumph, should be the great object of our 
ambition ; that God loves His creatures far better than we 
can do ; that acquiescence in His dispensations, founded on 
implicit confidence in the revelation He has been pleased 
to make of Himself to us, is far more acceptable than rest- 
less zeal for the promotion of His kingdom ; that the simple 
acceptance of that great body of facts which it has pleased 
Him to give for our learning, is far better than any amount 
of theological deduction that may be drawn therefrom ; that 



182 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



all noise and clamour on behalf of One who when on earth 
did neither strive nor cry, nor make His voice to he heard 
in the streets, is out of place ; that all pandering to human 
vanity, all love of notoriety, all planning, and directing, and 
governing of machinery, all greed of money for God's ser- 
vice, all excitement and publicity, all faith in mere oratory, 
all silencing of witness, lest it should interfere with our pro- 
jects, — everything, in short, which is contrary to calm trust, 
to childlike faith, to the silent and loving operations of the 
Spirit, " is not of the Father, but of the world." 

The full and hearty recognition of these truths would, I 
am persuaded, do more to purify the Church, to renovate 
society, to enlarge the boundaries of Divine knowledge, to 
increase true godliness, and so to hasten the coming of the 
Lord, than the dedication of millions of money to religious 
societies, or any conceivable multiplication of churches and 
preachers, of Bibles, of tracts, or of missionaries. 

The great question with each of us would then be, not so 
much, What can I do ? as What can I become ? Not, How 
can I add agency to agency? but, What is the order in 
which a Christian should work ? What the nature of tlie 
power he is called upon to exercise ? What the means God 
has appointed for perfecting the character, and through 
that, for extending the faith ? How can I best harmonize 
my practice with the daily petition, " Thy kingdom come ; 
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven " ? 

Whenever these inquiries are faithfully entered upon, 
and honestly pursued, many changes will come over our 
opinions and feelings. Believed from the ever-pressing but 
hopeless endeavour to do what man can never accomplish, 
and from the error by which this restlessness is supposed to 
be justified, viz., the belief that there will be no restitution, 
properly so called, and that, therefore, all who pass out of 



conclusion: 183 

life unconverted are lost for ever, Scripture will be searched 
with new and intense interest to discover, — (1) What God 
has revealed in relation to our duty and His purposes ; 
(2) What is our true position in the dispensation under 
which our lot is cast ; and (3) Wherein we have erred in 
judgment, and wherein we may have unconsciously fallen 
under the fatal shadow of " the mystery of iniquity." 

It will then be seen how it comes to pass that, after 
1,800 years of existence, Christianity is what it is ; that 
after at least two generations of extended and unceasing 
missionary effort, both at home and abroad ; after the cir- 
culation of eighty millions of copies of the Scriptures, in 
whole or in part, and after the distribution of above fifty 
millions of tracts, the results should comparatively be so 
meagre and unsatisfactory; that on the Continent of Europe, 
Protestantism, instead of advancing, should have retro- 
graded ; that infidelity should be on the increase ; that mere 
religiousness should have so widely taken the place of pure 
and undefiled religion; that ritualism and sacred music, 
choral services and scenic effects, should still be so popular 
among persons not altogether destitute of spirituality ; that 
the Book of God should be so little studied ; that difficulties 
in relation to its inspiration and authority should multiply 
upon us ; that its exposition should be so varied and un- 
certain ; that unfulfilled prophecy should be so greatly 
slighted, or so much abused; that devoutness shoidd so 
greatly supersede true piety ; that books of prayer and 
meditation, hymnals, and religious services, breathing in 
every page the spirit of mediaeval superstition, should by so 
many be preferred to the healthy atmosphere of the Bible ; 
that the Church should so largely occupy the place of. 
Christ, and that communion there should so often quiet 
cravings intended to find their satisfaction only in the 



184 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

fellowship of saints and the communion of the Holy 

Ghost. 

Meditating on these things at the source of all truth, 
humbled, mortified, and penitent, we might, it is to he 
hoped, then seek, under Divine guidance, to occupy the posi- 
tion of the Primitive and Apostolic Church, and to wait, with 
our "loins girt," and our "lamps burning/' for the great 
changes which, as so many thoughtful readers of prophecy 
think, now impend over us ; ready for whatever Providence 
may have in store for the Church, whether it be light or 
dark ; independent, in the best sense, of much that now 
constitutes our stay and hope ; and assured that if, as ex- 
perience has often taught us, Divine truth is never so weak 
as when it walks through the earth in pomp and pride, 
and never so strong as when it is crushed and persecuted, 
patient and penniless, the coming time, should it be, as 
many anticipate, one of apparent discomfiture, — should it 
bring in its train, as many fear it will, the overthrow of 
righteousness and the triumph of an intolerant Atheism, 
will yet be pregnant with untold blessings, if it drives us 
from our dependence on organized Christianity to reliance 
on God only ; if it substitutes " the Church in the house" 
for the crowded congregation ; if it sends us from theology 
to Scripture, from man to God, from sight to faith, from 
the outward to the inward, from controversy to character, 
from the flesh to the spirit, from everything else to 
Christ. 

In the meantime, it can scarcely be inappropriate to ask, 
in what direction, humanly speaking, help is most likely to 
come. Is it from the Church of England, or is it from the 
Nonconformists, that we may hope for aid in the struggle ? 
What, so far as we can perceive, is the part allotted to each 
in the great controversy that is approaching ? 



CONCLUSION. 185 

The answer will be found, if found at all, in the consti- 
tution of these bodies, in the idea they are supposed to 
express. And here they are seen to be directly contrary 
the one to the other. 

According to Hooker, the Church of England, as by law 
established, is one body, the essential unity of which con- 
sists in, and is known by, an external profession of Christ- 
ianity, without regard in any respect had, to the moral virtues 
or spiritual graces of any member of that body. 

With this, Warburton and Coleridge in general terms 
agree ; and the words of the Nineteenth Article, though ap- 
parently of a more restricted import, may be presumed not 
to mean less. 

" According to Coleridge, the National Church is a public 
and visible community, having ministers whom the nation, 
through the agency of a constitution, hath created trustees 
of a reserved national fund, upon fixed terms and with 
defined duties, and whom, in case of breach of those terms, 
or dereliction of those duties, the nation, through the same 
agency, may discharge. 

" The funds set apart by the nation for the support of the 
National Church are now, in fact, received by the ministers 
of the Church of Christ in this country. True ; but accord- 
ing to the idea — and that idea involves a history and a 
prophecy of the truth — it is not because they are such 
ministers that they receive those funds, but because, being 
now the only representatives, as formerly the principal con- 
stituents, of the national clerisy or Church, they alone have 
a commission to carry on the work of national cultivation 
on national grounds, — transmitting and integrating all that 
the separate professions have achieved in science or art, — 
but with a range transcending the limits of professional 
views, or local or temporary interests, applying the product, 



186 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

simple and defecated, to the strengthening and subliming 
of the moral life of the nation itself." 

" Such a Church is a principal instrument of the Divine 
Providence in the institution and government of human 
society. But it is not that Church against which we know 
that hell shall not prevail." 

These striking observations, made by Mr. Henry Nelson 
Coleridge in his preface to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's work 
" On the Constitution of the Church and State, according to 
the idea of each," are valuable chiefly on account of the 
distinction they draw between the Church of Christ, re- 
garded as such, and the national clerisy which may at any 
time be established in England for the purpose of promoting 
the general moral cultivation of her people. 

The evils of which so many complain as attaching to the 
Church of England ; the dangers which from time to time 
arise from theological defections within its borders ; the 
controversies which are ever raging in relation to its value 
or worthlessness, almost always proceed on the supposition 
that it is to be regarded at one and the same time as the 
Church of Christ and the Church of the nation, — a great 
national missionary institution, in fact, for converting 
sinners and building up believers. That it is frequently 
an agency blessed of God to accomplish both these ends 
may thankfully be admitted ; but it is so, not by virtue of 
its constitution, but by what may be termed the happy 
accident which has placed its direction so largely in the 
hands of men who love the Gospel, and which has endowed 
it with a clergy so pious, disinterested, and laborious as 
so many of those are who do the work of the Church of 
England. 

So long as this continues to be the case, the distinction 
drawn by Mr. Coleridge, however important, will not gene- 



COXCLUSIOX. 187 

rally be recognized. Should the Church of England, how- 
ever, ever become thoroughly rationalistic, it may remain 
as the national and ancestral church of our land, but it will 
be felt then to be very distinguishable from the Church of 
Christ, and true piety will again return to seek and to find 
elsewhere, or in the bosom of the family, a refuge and a 
stay which can no longer be found in the Establishment. 

The Church of England, then, being by constitution 
what it is, could not, even if it were wished, raise up within 
its own bosom the sort of ministry which I think the apos- 
tolic churches had, and we need. 

The Nonconformist bodies, originating for the most part 
in secession from the national establishment, and profess- 
ing to realize a higher and purer communion, — untram- 
melled by the State, and free to act according to the 
dictates of conscience, — have no hindrance to contend 
with beyond that which arises from their own public 
opinion leading them to attempt, so far as their ability 
extends, the very same work which the Church of England 
is ever trying to do, viz., to Christianize the community, by 
promoting a mixed worship, and by spreading as far as 
they can the knowledge of God, through public preaching, 
the visitation of the poor, and such other means as may 
seem likely to answer the end. Their main object, indeed, 
seems to be to prove that they can do this work better 
than the Church of England ; that voluntary societies are 
for Christian purposes preferable to endowed agencies ; that 
the support of the State in such work is unfavourable to 
purity, to freedom, and to vigour. 

But is this their calling of God ? Has it not led, and 
is it not sure to lead, just in proportion as equality makes 
way, to all the evils that beset established communions ? 
to the recognition of a professional order of religious teach- 



188 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



ers, and to the love of power and of social and political 
influence, so far as it can "be obtained, either by popular 
speech, or by ecclesiastical organization ? I think it does, 
and must continue to do so while human nature is un- 
changed. Is not this tendency increasingly visible in 
rivalries of various kinds ? in Gothic buildings, in expen- 
sive edifices, in steeples, in desires for liturgical services, in 
chants, in artistic singing, in the use of organs, in ritualistic 
tastes, in decorations, in altar-cloths over communion 
tables, and in a growing dislike to, and contempt for, all 
notions that are anti-clerical ? 

Changes are clearly coming over us, the direction and 
extent of which few care to contemplate; and perhaps 
nothing now can stay their course. That preaching, from 
some cause or other, is going down in public estimation 
must, I fear, be admitted. That in exactly the same pro- 
portion a love of ritualism is rising up seems little less 
certain. ISTor can it be otherwise if our existing church 
and chapel system is right in principle ; for a mixed crowd 
or congregation can only be kept together and interested in 
one of two ways, — either by oratory or by ritualism. If 
preaching fall into disrepute, nothing will retain the multi- 
tude but some aesthetic form of worship. If the ear be not 
regaled, the eye must be attracted. If the intellect be not 
addressed, the senses must. 

I am not, of course, imagining that preaching will, in 
any case, be given up, for even in the Eomish Church it is 
a wonderful element of power. I am merely intimating my 
belief that the tendency of the time is to get away from the 
Presbyterian idea, which regards the church as mainly, if 
not exclusively, a place of theological instruction ; and to 
get nearer to the Anglican idea, which regards the pulpit as 
altogether subordinate to the altar. As a consequence, 



CONCLUSION. 



189 



while what is popularly, although inappropriately, called 
Puseyism spreads among Episcopalians, the opinion 
deepens and widens among Nonconformists that in public 
service more prominence should be given to the worship of 
the Church, and less to its teaching. 

I do not wonder at this. It but expresses the natural 
want of many spiritually minded Christians. But let it 
not be forgotten, that to have spiritual worship you must 
have spiritual worshippers ; that to the outside world, to 
the formal and the irreligious, who form so large a part of 
ordinary congregations, the strengthening of the worship- 
ping element means the exaltation of ritualism, and nothing 
else. 

What, then, must we do ? Our choice clearly lies be- 
tween moving forward on the line so many are now follow- 
ing, or stepping backward to an extent which will altogether 
change our position in the eye of the world, and call for no 
little sacrifice and self-denial. 

This, however, is the path I invite the Nonconformists 
of England to tread, and to tread it boldly, without distinc- 
tion of sect or party, regardless of trust-deeds, of denomina- 
tional interests, of property, of everything that keeps real 
Christians apart from each other ; regardless, too, of theo- 
logical opinions, whether right or wrong ; of the views of 
Baptists or Paedobaptists, of Calvinists or Arminians, re- 
gardless of all creeds and confessions save one — " Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God ;" merging all other con- 
siderations in the one cardinal qualification for fellowship — 
faith in the Divine Eedeemer, and earnest desire to know 
and do His will. Then would the song, " Thou art the King 
of Glory, Christ !" rise to heaven with new acceptance, 
since it would swallow up every other cry, and embody in 
its capacious bosom the spoils of the theological universe. 



190 



ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 



A Nonconformity of this character would be worth, any 
sacrifice that might be required for its support, since it 
would be neither a badge of party nor a rock of offence to 
other Christians, but simply a higher school for advance- 
ment in the Divine life. This is its true mission in En^- 

o 

land, if it has one. Its calling is to take up the Christian 
where the Church of England, or the general congregation, 
leaves him, and to bring him forward in all knowledge and 
godliness. Doing this in Christ's own spirit, separate from 
the world, yet as open in its communion as in its prayers, 
it surely would command the respect of all who recognize 
the spirituality of true worship, whatever might be their 
ecclesiastical prejudices or preferences. 

Separated by an impassable gulf from political aims, it 
would neither excite anger nor occasion dread. Without 
any organization capable of being turned to worldly ends, 
or to the acquisition of power ; recognizing no order of men 
as exclusively commissioned to teach ; and acknowledging 
no one ordinance as more sacred than another, — it would 
be at once a standing witness against Eomanizing of all 
degrees, and a silent rebuke to sectarian ambitions. 

Aspiring to no distinction beyond that of being a suitable 
channel for the development of spiritual Christianity, and a 
means well adapted to promote the cultivation of the higher 
forms of the Divine life, it would soon come to be regarded as 
standing apart from all denominational or party associa- 
tions; and if, as would certainly be the case, growth in 
goodness manifested itself in desires to benefit others, those 
desires would become acts, only in subordination to Divine 
appointments, and whether carried out individually or in 
combination with others, would be marked by that cha- 
racter of quiet unobtrusiveness which becomes all who seek 
to follow the footsteps of the Master. 



CONCLUSION. 191 

Nothing is more certain than that until the Church 
awakes to judgment of itself, will secessions, greater or 
smaller, originating in felt wants, and therefore drawing in 
their wake some of the best, the most single-hearted, and 
the most godly amongst us, from time to time first witness 
against that which is wrong, and then wither by becoming 
wrong in the very act of witness; wither, by becoming 
narrow, bigoted, and uncharitable, first claiming the right 
of judging those who differ from them, and then exercising 
the right in still fiercer judgments on one another. 

It is a mercy for which we can never be too thankful 
that separations, as such, can never be more than partial, 
and rarely other than sectarian ; that individualism, how- 
ever valuable in correcting popular opinions, or in laying 
bare cherished evils, can build no temple to its own glory, 
or sever Christian from Christian without finding its punish- 
ment in its sin. But equally true is it that God will judge 
the Church that refuses to listen to any voice that is not in 
accordance with its own — that rejects remonstrance, whe- 
ther from within or from without ; for self-complacency and 
spiritual pride may influence a body as much as an indi- 
vidual, and worldly interests are not less worldly because 
supposed to be employed in the service of the Most 
High. 

One word more and I have done. Is there a Christian 
man, worthy of the name, who knows nothing of that irre- 
pressible sadness which so often steals over the spirit as we 
become more and more conscious how far, as individuals, 
we fall short of that high calling which is presented to us 
alike in Scripture and in the depths of our own conscious- 
ness ? Is there one who would not reject, almost with 
indignation, the pretence that our noblest aspirations are 
the mere offspring of discontent — that to soar above the 



192 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

earth is vain — that to strive after perfection is to weary 
oneself for nought ? 

Why, then, should such persons think they do well to be 
angry, when the same order of thought is confronted with 
the Church and its institutions ? Why should men wel- 
come the suggestion that to doubt its condition is but to 
indicate a cynical spirit — to be a fault-finder, dissatisfied, 
unthankful? If it be not right to take complacency in 
what we individually are, is it otherwise than unlawful to 
glorify what we call " the Church," by which I mean that 
particular ecclesiastical organization or institution which we 
most favour? Is it permissible to magnify its work, to 
exaggerate its value, to be so jealous regarding it, as on no 
account to allow it to be touched ? Is it right to regard it 
as a thing too sacred to be questioned, too heavenly to be 
reformed ? Here, too, if we will believe it, there is room 
for a Divine sadness. 

The question proposed in my title-page — "Organized 
Christianity : Is it of God or of man ?" — admits, now, of a 
distinct answer. It is not of God, hut of man. Such 
organization is indeed of God to the extent in which it 
may be essential to the existence of Christian societies, 
but no farther. It is of man so far as it takes the form 
of a hierarchy or of a confederation of fellowships, whether 
governed as a whole by bishops or presbyters, or whether 
the fellowships in question be independent of each other, 
and only associated for general purposes. Let the form be 
what it may, in so far as Christianity presents itself before 
the world as an organized body, it becomes something dif- 
ferent from the idea of Christ and His apostles. 

Spiritually, the Church may be, and undoubtedly is, one 
great undivided family j but visibly it is a multitude of 



CONCLUSION. 



193 



families, existing like ordinary families, each independent 
of the other, without cohesion, and presenting no united 
front to the. world. Christianity is not A power in the* 
earth, making itself felt, even for good, by means of a well- 
appointed order of agencies. It is simply ax influence — 
a Divine, purifying, enlightening, and sanctifying influence, 
intended to mingle silently, and often imperceptibly, with 
every form of human life, but not presenting externally 
any point oVappui, or any conglomeration capable of being 
either measured or counted. 

Viewed as a unity, the Church is purely spiritual, having 
no Government of its own, because it is intended to har- 
monize with and to sanctify aU forms of secular govern- 
ment. It has, in this aspect, no external shape, because 
its power is intended to be everywhere felt, rather than 
seen. It is to act like the air of heaven, blowing where 
God listeth, but no man beino- able to tell whence it cometli 
or whither it goeth. That which Christianity is in each 
individual subject of it, such it is when regarded as a whole 
— A life IN A life : not any one form of life capable of 
being analyzed and separated from other forms of being, 
but a life " hid with Christ in God," seen only in its results, 
known only by its effects. 

For the promotion of what is now called Christian civil- 
ization, whether at home or abroad, systematic aggressive 
action through churches and chapels, by parties and de- 
nominations, by priests and preachers, by ritualism and 
oratory, by money and machinery, seems to be indispen- 
sable. The statesman recognizes this when, viewing religion 
merely as a sort of moral police, he either sustains one par- 
ticular form of faith, or protects and patronizes all. In the 
earlier stages of a community, rival sects, untrammelled by 
any authority external to themselves, inflaming each other's 





194 ORGANIZED CHRISTIANITY. 

zeal, and contending sharply for mastery over mind, best 
serve this great social end. It is only when some one sect 
has, from whatever cause, accumulated wealth and acquired 
spiritual dominion over the rich as well as over the poor, 
over the rank and intellect as well as over the ignorance of 
a community, that sound policy demands that such a body 
should be a recognized power, and should receive, in con- 
nection with wholesome control, some special status and 
honour from the Crown. Whenever this takes place, some 
one or more Christian body becomes the Established 
Church or Churches of the land — a procedure which, in 
process of time is almost sure to be regarded as a political 
necessity. 

In this form, every country in Europe has been ac- 
customed to hold up its Church as no unimportant part of 
its national glory and strength. But, as Mr. Henry Kelson 
Coleridge has so truthfully remarked, These are not the 
Churches against which we knoio that hell shall not prevail. 



THE END. 



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WORKS BY THE AUTHOR 

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"'The question which the Author of this work raises is undoubtedly one of 
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relate strictly to the whole of the human race. It is to the residue of man- 
kind; a residue, according to him, composed of two classes: — the first com- 
prehending those who have never heard the Gospel, and the second those 
who have never had their attention so drawn to it that they can be said either 
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